FROM   THE  LIBRARY  OF 
REV.    LOUIS    FITZGERALD    BENSON.   D.  D. 

BEQUEATHED    BY  HIM   TO 

THE   LIBRARY  OF 

PRINCETON  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY 


WWataa      SCO 
SectU.         /  0  I  O  U- 


In  the  year  1913,  Dr.  Good  rounded  out  the  series  of 
Refonned  histories  by  publishing  a  History  of  the  Swiss  Re- 
formed Church  since  the  Reformation.  Here  he  presents  in 
the  compass  of  a  single  volume  the  complicated  history  of  the 
Reformed  Church  in  the  various  Reformed  cantons  of  Swit- 
zerland. He  adopts  the  biographical  method  of  presentation, 
which  enables  him  to  make  the  main  events  revolve  around 
important  leaders.  It  is  the  only  book  in  English  which  at- 
tempts such  a  broad  survey,  through  five  successive  periods, 
down  to  the  present  time.  The  task  is  well  done  and  it  was 
well  worth  the  effort  to  gather  together  the  many  scattered 
facts  into  a  unified  record. 


A  MAR  24  1932  ^ 
&  <$* 

History  of  the  Swiss  Reformed 

Church  Since  the 

Reformation 


BY 


REV.   PROF.  JAMES  I.   GOOD,  D.  D.,  LL.  D. 

PROFESSOR  OF  REFORMED  CHURCH   HISTORY  IN  THE 
CENTRAL  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY,  DAYTON,  O. 


AUTHOR  OF 

"ORIGIN  OF  THE  REFORMED  CHURCH  OF  GERMANY,"  "HISTORY 
OF  THE   REFORMED  CHURCH   OF  GERMANY,"  "HISTORY  OF 
THE  REFORMED  CHURCH  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES."  "HIS- 
TORY OF  THE   REFORMED  CHURCH  IN  THE  UNITED 
STATES  IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY,"  "FAMOUS 
WOMEN  OF  THE  REFORMED  CHURCH,"  "FAMOUS 
MISSIONARIES  OF  THE  REFORMED  CHURCH," 
"FAMOUS  PLACES  OF  THE  REFORMED 
CHURCHES,"       &c. 


PHILADELPHIA 

PUBLICATION  AND  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  BOARD 
of  the  Reformed  Church  in  the  United  States 

19  13 


Entered,  according:  to  the  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1913 

By  REV.  JAMES  I.  GOOD,  D.  D.,  LL.  D. 

In  the  office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress  at  Washington 


PRESS   OF    BERGER    BROS.,    PHILADELPHIA 


PREFACE 


Switzerland  has  always  occupied  a  prominent  place 
in  the  history  of  Protestant  Europe.  Switzerland  is  a 
monument  of  the  reformation.  Students  of  Church  his- 
tory have  diligently  studied  the  influence  of  the  reformers 
Zwingli  and  Calvin  in  other  lands,  as  France,  Holland, 
Scotland,  etc.,  but  the  results  of  their  work  in  their  own 
little  land,  Switzerland,  have  been  largely  unnoted.  On 
the  period  covered  by  this  volume  there  is  no  book  in 
the  English  language.  The  reformation  has  been  ably 
and  thoroughly  described  in  the  works  of  Schaff,  Fisher, 
Hagenbach,  D'Aubigne  and  others,  but  of  this  period 
only  a  biography  or  two,  as  of  Haldane,  Malan  and 
Vinet,  have  appeared  in  English.  Yet  the  history  of 
Switzerland,  since  the  reformation,  is  only  second  in  im- 
portance to  the  history  of  Switzerland  in  the  reforma- 
tion. This  volume  will,  therefore,  fill  a  gap  among 
church  histories  in  the  English  language. 

The  book  may  also  be  said  to  be  a  tribute  by  the 
author  to  the  beautiful  and  grand  little  country  in  which 
he  has  so  often  summered.  And  it  also  completes  a  set 
of  histories  written  on  the  Reformed  Churches  of  Ger- 
many, the  United  States,  and  now  Switzerland. 

In  writing  it  the  biographical  method  rather  than  the 
topical  has  been  used,  so  as  to  make  it  more  intelligible 
to  the  English  readers,  who,  living  so  far  away,  are 
comparatively  unacquainted  with  many  of  the  characters 
who  have  made  the  history  of  the  Church  of  Switzerland 
important  and  grand.  The  author  would  also  ask  that 
Swiss  readers  remember  that  in  English-speaking  lands 


VI 


PREFACE 


the  word  "Evangelical"  is  used  in  a  narrower  sense  than 
in  Switzerland.  There  "Evangelical"  often  includes  those 
whom  we  consider  rationalists,  as  they  are  members  of 
the  state  or  Evangelical  Churches,  but  it  never  has  that 
meaning  with  us.  The  word  "Evangelical"  as  used  in 
this  book  corresponds  to  the  word  "positive"  as  used  in 
Germany,  referring  to  those  who  hold  to  the  old  tradi- 
tional faith.  The  author  also  has  to  confess  that  in  a 
number  of  dates  he  has  been  somewhat  in  doubt,  as  two 
and  ever  more  are  sometimes  given  by  different  authori- 
ties for  the  same  event.  He  desires  also  to  express  his 
gratitude  to  a  number  of  friends  in  Switzerland  who 
have  aided  him  by  their  suggestions,  as  the  late  Prof.  H. 
C.  von  Orelli,  of  Basle;  the  late  Prof.  F.  Barth,  of  Bern; 
Rev.  Eugene  Choisy,  Prof.  Lucien  Gautier  and  Prof. 
Aloys  Berthoud,  of  Geneva ;  Prof.  G.  von  Schulthess- 
Rechberg  and  Dr.  Herman  Escher,  of  Zurich ;  Rev.  G. 
Kirchhofer,  of  Schaffhausen,  and  others,  although  he 
would  not  wish  them  to  be  held  at  all  responsible  for  any 
conclusions  of  his.  Trusting  that  this  book  will  interest 
English  readers  in  that  beautiful  little  land  to  which  Re- 
formed Protestantism  owes  its  birth,  this  book  is  sent 
forth  by  the  author. 

James  I.  Good. 

Philadelphia,  April  15,  1913. 


TABLE   OF  CONTENTS 

BOOK  I 

THE  PERIOD  OF  CONSOLIDATION 

Introduction    3 

Part  I.     The  Early  Centres  of  the  Reformed  Church 7 

Chapter   I.    Zurich 7 

Section  1.     Antistes   Rudolph   Gualther 7 

"        2.     Antistes  Lewis  Lavater 12 

"        3.     Antistes  John  Rudolph  Stumpf 14 

"        4.     Antistes  Burkhard  Leeman 16 

"        5.     Antistes  John  Jacob  Breitinger 18 

Chapter  II.    Geneva 32 

Section  1.     Prof.    John    Diodati 32 

Part  II.     The  Efforts  to  Introduce  Lutheranism 37 

Chapter   I.     Bern 37 

Section  1.     The   Megander-Bucer  Controversy 37 

"        2.     The  Reorganization  of  the  Bern  Church..  42 

"        3.     The  Huber  Controversy 46 

4.    The  District  of  Vaud 55 

Chapter    II.     Basle..  t 57 

Section  1.     Antistes  Simon  Sulzer 57 

"        2.     Antistes  John  Jacob  Grynaeus 64 

"        3.     Prof.  Amandus  Polanus 66 

Chapter  III.     Schaffhausen  69 

Section  1.     Antistes  Conrad  Ulmer 69 

Part  III.    Dangers  to  the  Reformed  from  the  Catholics.  71 

Chapter  I.    The  Dangers  just  after  the  Reformation...  73 

Section  1.     Appenzell    74 

2.     Basle    75 

"        3.     Geneva   and   the   Escalade 76 

4.    Valais    79 


viii  CONTENTS 

Chapter  II.    The  Dangers  during  the  Thirty  Years'  War.  81 

Section  1.     Thurgau  and  the  Case  of  Kesselring 82 

2.  The  Massacre  of  the  Valtellina 84 

3.  Duke  Henry  of  Rohan 90 

"        4.     The    Freedom    of    Switzerland    and    John 

Rudolph  Wettstein   97 

Chapter  III.    The  Dangers  after  the  Thirty  Y«ars'  War  99 

Section  1.     The   Two  Battles  of  Vilmergen 99 

2.    The  Succession  in  Neuchatel 102 

Part  IV.     The  Refugees  in  Switzerland 105 

Chapter  I.    The  Refugees  from  the  Catholic  Cantons  of 

Switzerland 107 

Section  1.     The  Refugees  from  Locarno 107 

2.    The  Nicodemites   109 

Chapter  II.    The  Foreign  Refugees 112 

Section  1.     The   Refugees   from   France 112 

"        2.     Theodore  Agrippa  D'Aubigne  116 

"        3.     The     Theological     Seminary     of     Antoine 

Court  at  Lausanne 121 

"        4.     The  Waldensian  Refugees  from  Italy 125 

5.     The  Hungarian  Refugees 127 

BOOK   II 
THE  PERIOD  OF  SCHOLASTIC  CALVINISM 

Part  I.    The  Rise  of  Scholastic  Calvinism 133 

Chapter  I.    Zurich   137 

Section  1.     Antistes    John    Jacob    Irminger   and    John 

Jacob  Ulrich   137 

2.     Prof.  John  Henry  Hottinger 140 

"        3.     Antistes  Casper  Waser  143 

"        4.     Prof.  John  Henry  Heidegger 144 

Chapter  II.     Basle    146 

Section  1.     Antistes  John  Wolleb 146 

"        2.     Antistes  Theodore  Zwinger  147 

"        3.     Antistes  Luke  Gernler    149 

4.  The  Professors  Buxdorf   150 

Chapter  III.     Bern    153 

Section  1.     Dekan  John  Henry  Hummel 153 

"        2.     The    Adoption    of    the    Piscator    Bible    by 

Bern  151 

"        3.     The    Amended    Heidelberg    Catechism    in 

Bern  156 


CONTENTS  ix 

Chapter  IV.    Geneva   159 

Section  1.     The  Early  Orthodoxy  under  Spanheim  and 

Turretin    159 

2.     The  Entrance  of  the  Doctrines  of  Saumur 

into  Geneva  160 

Chapter  V.    The  Formulation  and  Adoption  of  the  Hel- 
vetic Consensus   164 

Section  1.    The  Formulation  of  the  Consensus 164 

"        2.     Its  Adoption  by  the  Swiss  Cantons 166 

Part  II.    The  Disavowal  of  the  Helvetic  Consensus 169 

Chapter  I.    The  Influences  that  Led  to  its  Disavowal.  169 

Section  1.     The  Intervention  of  Foreign  Princes 169 

2.  Werenfels  and  its  Rejection  at  Basle 171 

3.  J.  xMphonse  Turretin  and  its  Disavowal  at 

Geneva    173 

4.  Osterwald  and  its  Disavowal  at  Neuchatel.  178 

Part  III.    The  Retention  of  the  Helvetic  Consensus 185 

Chapter  I.     Its  Retention  at  Zurich 185 

Section  1.     Antistes  Antonius  Klingler 185 

"        2.     Antistes    Peter  Zeller   and   Antistes  Louis 

Nuschler    187 

Chapter  II.     Its  Retention  by  Bern 190 

Section  1.     Prof.  John  Rudolph  Rudolph 190 

"        2.     The  Difficulties  of   Creed   Subscription  at 

Lausanne    191 

BOOK  III 
THE  PERIOD  OF  RATIONALISM 

Chapter  I.    Zurich    201 

Section  1.     Antistes  John  Conrad  Wirz 201 

"        2.     Prof.  John  Jacob  Zimmerman 202 

3.     Antistes  John  Rudolph  Ulrich 206 

"        4.    Rev.  John  Casper  Lavater 209 

"        5.     Antistes  John  Jacob  Hess 236 

6.     John  Henry  Pestalozzi   243 

Chapter  II.     Basle 249 

Section  1.     Prof.    John    Jacob    Wettstein 249 

2.  Prof.  Leonard  Euler  252 

3.  Prof.  John  Christopher  Beck 255 


x  CONTENTS 

Chapter  III.     Bern    258 

Section  1.     The  Stapfer  Family   258 

2.     Prof.  Albert  Von  Haller 262 

Chapter  IV.    Geneva   278 

Section  1.     The  Downgrade  at  Geneva 278 

2.     Prof.  Jacob  Vernet 282 

"        3.     Voltaire  and  the  Genevan  Church 285 

"        4.     Rosseau  and  the  Genevan  Church 2!»2 

5.     Prof.  Charles  Bonnet 301 


BOOK  IV 
PIETISM    OR   THE   REVIVAL 

Part  I.    German   Switzerland 307 

Chapter  I.    Bern    311 

Section  1.     Its  Early  Pietism 311 

2.     Rev.  Samuel  Lutz 320 

Chapter  II.    Basle 330 

Section  1.     Rev.  Jerome  D'Annoni 330 

2.     The  Religious  Activity  of  Basle 330 

Chapter  III.     Schaffhausen  344 

Section  1.     Its   Early   Pietism 344 

2.     Its  Later    Pietism 347 

Part  II.    French  Switzerland  353 

Chapter  IV.    Geneva   353 

Section  1.     The  Preparation  for  the  Revival 353 

2.  The  Visit  of  Haldane 361 

3.  The  Conversion  and  Testimony  of  Malan. .  371 

4.  The  Church  of  the  Bourg  du  Four 375 

5.  Malan  and  His  Chapel  of  the  Testimony..  385 

6.  Felix  Neff   396 

BOOK  V 

THE  RELIGIOUS   EVENTS   OF   THE   NINETEENTH 
CENTURY 

Part  I.     The  German  Cantons 403 

Chapter  I.    Introductory   403 


CONTENTS 


XI 


Section  1.     Secular  Events   403 

"        2.     The    Controversy    between    Catholics    and 

Protestants    404 

"        3.     The     Conflict     between     Rationalists     and 

Evangelicals 40G 

"        4.     The   United   Religious   Movements   of  the 

Cantons  408 

Chapter   II.     Basle    410 

Section  1.  The  Call  of  Prof.  De  Wette 410 

2.  Prof.  Charles  Rudolph  Hagenbach 412 

"        3.  The  Later  Religious  Situation  at  Basle..  414 

"        4.  The  Basle  Missionary  Society 419 

"        5.  The  Other  Religious  Institutions  of  Basle.  422 

Chapter  III.     Zurich    425 

Section  1.     The   Preparation   for  the   Strauss   Contro- 
versy      425 

2.     The  Call  of   Strauss 426 

"        3.     The  Biederman  Controversy 434 

"        4.     The  Later  Controversies  between  Ration- 
alists and  Evangelicals  438 

Chapter  IV.    Bern  443 

Section  1.     The  Founding  of  the  University 443 

2.     The  Call  of  Prof.  Edward  Zeller 445 

"        3.     The    Controversies    since    Zeller's    Depar- 
ture      448 

"        4.     The  Evangelical  Society  of  Bern 451 

Chapter  V.     Schaffhausen 456 

Section  1.     The   Defection   of   Antistes   Hurter 456 

Part  II.     The  French  Cantons 461 

Chapter  I.     Geneva 461 

Section  1.  The  Evangelical  Church  of  Geneva 461 

2.  The  Evangelical  School  of  Theology 463 

3.  The  National  Church  of  Geneva 467 

"        4.  The  Later  Events  in  the  National  Church 

of  Geneva 469 

Chapter  II.    Vaud  473 


xii  CONTENTS 

Section  1.     The  Pietistic  Events  in  the  Early  Part  of 

the   Nineteenth  Century    473 

"        2.     The  Secession  of  the  Free  Church  of  Vaud  476 

3.  Prof.  Alexander  Rudolph  Vinet 480 

4.  History  of  the  Free  Church  of  Vaud 487 

"        5.     The   Mission   Romande 491 

Chapter  III.     Neuchatel 494 

Section  1.     Its  History  in  the  Early  Part  of  the  Nine- 
teenth Century   494 

"        2.     The  Free  Church  of   Neuchatel 496 

3.     Profs.  Frederick  Godet  and  A.  Gretillat..  497 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


The  Escalade  at  Geneva Frontispiece 

The  Uprising  of  the  Reformed  at  Schiers 91 

Prominent    Zurich    Theologians— Gualther,    Breitinger, 

HOTTINGER    AND    HeSS 142 

The  Theologians  of  the  Helvetic  Consensus — Heidegger, 
Gernler,  F.  Turretin,  J.  A.  Turretin,  Werenfels  and 
Osterwald    168 

John  Henry  Pestalozzi  and  His  Protege 244 

Prominent  Ministers — Lavater,  Malan,  Finsler 432 

Prominent  Theologians — Pictet,  Vinet,  Godet 477 


BOOK  I 

THE  PERIOD  OF  CONSOLIDATION 


History  of  the  Swiss  Reformed  Church 
Since  the  Reformation* 


INTRODUCTION 

The  age  of  the  Reformers  closed  with  Bullinger 
( 1575)  and  Beza  (1605)  in  German  and  French  Switz- 
erland, respectively.  At  their  death,  the  Protestant 
Church  entered  upon  a  new  era.  Their  mission  had  been 
to  originate  the  Reformed  faith,  it  remained  for  their 
successors  to  make  it  permanent.  The  period  imme- 
diately following  the  reformation  may,  therefore,  be 
called  the  period  of  consolidation. 

For  two  movements  appeared  to  interfere  with  the 
Reformed  faith.  The  first  was  an  enemy,  Catholicism 
which  hoped  to  regain  the  Protestant  cantons.  The  dis- 
astrous defeat  of  Zurich  at  Cappel  ( 1531 ),  when 
Zwingli  lost  his  life,  had  been  a  terrible  blow,  from 
which  Protestantism  did  not  recover  for  a  century.  It 
had  taken  all  the  courage  and  remarkable  wisdom  of 
Bullinger  to  guide  the  Church  against  any  reaction  to 
Romanism.  And  after  his  death  the  Catholic  Church 
was  ever  as  watchful  as  a  lynx  to  gain  any  advantage. 

The  second  movement  was  not  by  an  enemy,  but  by 
a  rival,  Lutheranism.  The  great  controversy  between 
Luther  and  Zwingli  on  the  Lord's   Supper  had  so   far 

*  The  best  general  religious  history  of  Switzerland  is 
Bloesch,  "Geschichte  der  Schweizerisch-reformirten  Kirchen"  (2 
vols.).  A  more  popular  work  is  Hadorn,  "Kirchengeschichte 
der  reformirten  Schweiz." 

3 


4  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

been  forgotten,  that  Lutheranism  began  making  inroads 
into  German  Switzerland.  The  Lutherans  of  Germany 
had  not  forgotten  their  disappointment  when  the  Ger- 
man and  French  Swiss  had  become  united  by  the  Ti- 
gurine  Confession  (1549),  for  they  had  hoped  to  cap- 
ture German  Switzerland.  And  the  Lutheran  party  in 
Switzerland  used  every  effort  to  Lutheranize  the  Protes- 
tant cantons. 

Over  against  these  movements  it  took  the  Reformed 
Church  about  three-quarters  of  a  century  to  perma- 
nently consolidate  herself,  indeed  some  of  the  Catholic 
controversies  were  not  settled  until  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury. But  by  the  end  of  the  Thirty  Years  War  (1648), 
it  may  be  said  that  Protestant  Switzerland  became  con- 
solidated into  a  Reformed  Church,  uniform  in  doctrine, 
worship  and  custom. 

Before  entering  into  the  religious  history  of  Switz- 
erland, it  may  be  well  to  pause  a  moment  on  the  political 
situation  in  that  land.  At  the  reformation,  of  about  a 
dozen  cantons,  Protestantism  had  four,  but  they  were 
the  larger  ones  containing  the  large  cities,  Bern,  Zurich, 
Basle  and  Schaffhausen.  Catholicism  had  seven,  Lu- 
cerne, Zug,  Uri,  Unterwalden,  Schwyz,  Freiburg  and 
Solothurn.  Appenzell  was  divided  in  religion  and  soon 
became  a  divided  canton.  Geneva  tried  to  join  the  Swiss 
confederacy  in  1557,  but  the  jealousy  of  the  Catholics 
against  any  increase  of  Protestant  power  in  the  Swiss 
diet  prevented.*     These  cantons  were  controlled  by  a 

*  This  arrangement  of  the  cantons  continued  until  1803,  when 
the  Act  of  Mediation  added  six  more,  St.  Gall,  Grisons,  Aargau, 
Ticino,  Thurgau  and  Vaud.  Since  the  fall  of  Napoleon,  three  or 
four  more  have  been  added,  Geneva,  Glarus,  Valais,  and  later 
Neuchatel.  Just  after  the  reformation,  the  districts  east  and 
northeast  of  Zurich,  as  Glarus,  Grisons,  St.  Gall  (the  Protestant 
part)  and  Thurgau,  were  loosely  connected  with  Zurich,  es- 
pecially religiously,  though  not  politically  included  in  her;  and 
Bern  was  so  large  at  that  time  as  to  include  within  herself  the 
later  cantons  of  Vaud  and  Aargau. 


INTRODUCTION  5 

diet.  The  four  Protestant  cantons  were  also  under  the 
control  of  a  diet.  The  first  diet  we  will  call  the  Swiss 
diet,  the  last  the  Evangelical  diet.*  Over  against  the 
Evangelical  diet  the  Catholic  cantons  formed  the  Cath- 
olic League.  It  is  very  evident  that  the  bond  that 
bound  the  cantons  was  very  loose,  because  they  often 
made  alliances  independently  of  each  other  and  some- 
times went  to  war  with  each  other.  It  was  not  until 
the  Napoleonic  wars  had  thoroughly  overturned  the  old 
regime  that  these  cantons  finally  coalesced  into  the  pres- 
ent government  of  Switzerland. 

We  will  first  study  the  two  great  centers  of  the  Re- 
formed Church,  Zurich  and  Geneva,  which  never 
swerved  in  their  loyalty  to  the  Reformed  faith ;  then  we 
will  take  up  those  cantons  in  which  Lutheran  tendencies 
began  to  appear,  and,  finally,  we  will  watch  those  can- 
tons and  districts  which  Catholicism  made  a  determined 
effort  to  regain. 

*  This  distinction  between  the  Swiss  diet  and  the  Evangelical 
diet  should  be  carefully  kept  in  mind  in  reading  this  work. 


PART   I 

THE  EARLY  CENTRES  OF  THE  REFORMED  CHURCH 

These  were  Zurich  and  Geneva.  These  cities  not  only 
never  swerved  from  the  Reformed  faith,  but  they  also 
exerted  a  predominating  influence,  for  they  had  been 
respectively  the  cities  of  the  two  great  reformers,  Zwingli 
and  Calvin. 

CHAPTER  I 

Zurich* 

The  religious  history  of  Zurich,  in  this  period,  can  be 
best  revealed  by  studying  her  antistes.f  The  antistes 
was  not  a  bishop  or  even  a  superintendent  as  in  the 
Lutheran  Church,  but  an  equal,  the  first  among  equals; 
for  the  Swiss  Church,  in  government,  was  essentially 
Presbyterian,  like  the  rest  of  the  Reformed  Churches. 

Section  i 

ANTISTES   RUDOLPH   GU AETHER    (l575'85) 

It  is  remarkable  that  Zurich  in  the  reformation  had 
such  a  succession  of  able  men  as  leaders.  From  1519- 
1585,  nearly  three-quarters  of  a  century,  her  leadership 
was  in  the  hands  of  men  of  the  highest  ability.     God 

*  The  best  history  of  the  Zurich  Church  is  "Die  Zurcher 
Kirche,"  by  Zimmermann. 

t  The  antistes  was  the  head-minister  of  the  Church.  Other 
cantons,  as  Basle,  Schaffhausen  and  St.  Gall,  also  called  their 
head-minister  antistes;  but  it  is  now  generally  given  up,  except 

in   Basle. 

7 


8        THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

always  provides  great  leaders  for  great  eras.  It  is  re- 
markable that  Zwingli  should  be  followed  by  so  able 
and  wise  a  leader  as  Bullinger,  and  now  the  third 
antistes,  Gualther,  is  almost  as  great  as  either  of  his 
predecessors. 

Gualther  was  born  at  Zurich,  November  9,  15 19. 
He  was  a  poor  boy  whom  Bullinger  took  into  his  family 
and  taught  languages.  For  Bullinger  not  only  welcomed 
the  refugees  who  came  to  Zurich  from  other  lands,  as 
England,  but  he  also  took  into  his  own  family  promising 
young  Swiss,  whom  he  trained  up  for  the  ministry.  After 
completing  his  studies  at  Zurich,  Gualther,  as  was  then 
the  custom  of  the  times,  visited  foreign  universities  at 
the  expense  of  his  native  city.*  Gualther  went  to  Basle 
(1538),  and  to  Lausanne  (1539),  so  as  to  learn  French. 
In  1540  he  went  to  Germany  to  the  universities  of  Stras- 
burg  and  Marburg.  While  at  Marburg  he  went,  at  the 
expense  of  the  Landgrave  Philip  of  Hesse,  to  the  diet 
of  Ratisbon,  where  he  saw  Calvin  and  Melancthon.  In 
1541,  he  returned  to  Zurich.  In  that  year  he  married 
Regula  Zwingli,  the  daughter  of  the  Reformer.  For 
Bullinger,  in  his  large-heartedness,  had  taken  into  his 
family  the  wife  and  children  of  Zwingli,  and  cared  for 
them  as  his  own.  What  was  more  natural  than  that  the 
two  young  people  should  become  enamored  with  each 
other  and  finally  marry. 

In  1542,  Gualther  was  called  as  the  pastor  of  one 
of  the  most  important  of  the  churches  of  the  city  of 
Zurich — St.  Peter's — the  church  which  had  had  for  its 
pastor  Leo  Juda.f     His  sermons  soon  caused  a  sensa- 

*  Zurich  considered  herself  honored  in  thus  honoring  her 
sons,  and  for  this  she  was  abundantly  repaid,  as  she  raised  up 
for  herself  men  who  became  her  future  leaders. 

f  Zurich  had  four  churches,  the  Cathedral  and  the  Preacher's 
Church  on  the  northeastern  side  of  the  Linmat  river;  the 
Fraumunster  and  St.  Peter's  on  the  southwestern  side,  to  which 
was  later  added  the  Orphanage  Church. 


ZURICH  9 

tion,  especially  his  sermon  on  the  pope  as  Antichrist. 
It  happened  that  while  preaching  on  the  gospel  of 
Matthew  (for  he,  like  the  other  Reformed  reformers, 
preached  on  a  book  of  the  Bible,  verse  by  verse),  when 
he  came  to  the  24th  chapter,  he  spoke  of  the  pope  as 
Antichrist  and  of  the  monks  as  the  modern  representa- 
tives of  the  Pharisees.  This  would  not  have  been  no- 
ticed had  not  his  friends  demanded  that  his  sermons 
should  be  published,  and  they  proved  so  popular  that 
they  were  translated  into  Latin,  French,  English,  Span- 
ish, Italian  and  Polish.  They  were  praised  by  the 
Protestant  world  as  the  leading  work  of  their  day  against 
the  papacy.  But  the  Catholics,  ever  on  the  watch, 
brought  charges  against  them  at  the  Swiss  diet,  for  ever 
since  the  defeat  of  Cappel  (1531),  the  Catholics  were 
on  the  offensive,  so  as  to  reveal,  if  possible  the  weak- 
ness of  Protestantism.  The  Swiss  diet  ordered  Zurich 
to  punish  Gualther.  When  called  before  the  city  council, 
he  defended  himself  eloquently.  He  declared  that  it 
had  not  been  his  purpose  to  disturb  the  peace  between 
the  Protestants  and  Catholics  by  preaching  thus.  But 
he  said  he  wondered  at  the  complaint,  when  Luther  and 
Zwingli  had  both  spoken  in  the  same  severity  against 
the  pope;  yes,  even  Catholics,  as  Petrarch  and  Bernard, 
had  said  severer  things  against  the  papacy.  The  Zurich 
council  decided  not  to  punish  him;  but  the  Catholics 
brought  it  up  at  the  next  diet,  and  they  kept  agitating 
against  him,  even  as  late  as  1586. 

The  Catholics,  finding  that  they  could  not  thus  si- 
lence him,  then  tried  to  put  him  out  of  the  way  secretly ; 
but  God  preserved  him. 

There  is  a  story  that  on  a  Friday,  the  usual  market 
day,  as  he  was  going  to  hear  Bullinger  preach  at  the 
early  service  on  the  prophet  Jonah,  a  man  met  and  ad- 
dressed him,  "Gualther,  out  of  my  great  love  to  you,  I  can 
not  refuse  to  tell  you  of  your  great  danger.  For  next 
week,  three  young  men  of  medium  stature  clothed  in 


I0  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

white  like  the  Italians,  will  knock  at  your  door.    If  they 
are  left  in  they  will  greet  you  in  a  friendly  way.    Beware 
that  you  do  not  receive  them  under  your  roof  without  a 
companion.    And  if  they  are  left  in  by  your  servant,  do 
not  read  their  letters  in  their  presence ;  but  do  something 
else  lest  you  be  harmed  by  them."    When  Gualther  asked 
him  his  name,  he  replied  he  should  not  trouble  himself 
about  it,  but  be  careful  to  mind  the  warning.     As  they 
talked  he  went  with  Gualther  into  the  church.     Later, 
Gualther  began  thinking  about  this,  whether  it  was  an 
angel  that  appeared  to  him  or  not.     For  he  asked  many 
of  the  citizens  who  were  present  when  he  talked  with  the 
man,  whither  he  went  or  if  they  had  seen  him.     But  they 
declared  they  had  not.     And  when  they  sought  for  such 
a  man  at  the  hotels  he  was  not  to  be  found.     Gualther, 
therefore,  felt  it  was  a  warning  sent  from  God.    He  con- 
sulted with  Bullinger  and  put  the  people  of  his  house  on 
their  guard,  ordering  that  they  should  not  allow  any  one 
with  letters  to  come  into  the  house,  but  should  take  the 
letters  from  them  and  leave  them  standing  at  the  door. 
Sure  enough,  fifteen  days  after  this  warning,  three 
young    men    dressed    as    the    old    man    said,    appeared. 
They  said  they  were  students  and  had  letters  for  him  and 
wished  to  speak  to  him.    Joshua  Petonus,  who  was  carry- 
ing food  from  the  kitchen  to  the  table,  happened  to  open 
the  door.     They  came  quickly  into  the   room.     When 
Gualther,  who  was  about  eating  his  dinner,  saw  them, 
he  rose  quickly  from  the  table  and  approached  them  with 
a  brave  heart.    For  he  had  in  his  right  hand  the  knife  he 
used  at  dinner  and  in  his  left  hand  a  dagger.    When  they 
saw  Gualther  thus  armed  and  that  he  had  at  his  table 
several  students,  who  were  also  armed  with  daggers,  they 
lost  courage.     When  Gualther  asked  them  whence  they 
came  they  replied  that  they  were  from  Basle  and  brought 
letters  from  Peter  Peruna.     He  asked  them  where  they 
lodged  at  Zurich  and  they  told  him  at  the  Sword  Hotel. 
He  answered  "That  is  well,  go  back  there.    After  dinner 
I  will  read  your  letters  and  answer  them  and  will  call 
on  you."    They  left  trembling,  not  daring  to  lift  a  finger 
against  him.    As  soon  as  they  were  gone,  he  sent  a  boy  to 
the  hotel,  but  found  all  their  statements  were  false.    And 
when  he  inquired  further,  he  learned  that  they  had  horses 
in   a  neighboring   village   with   which,   when   they   had 


ZURICH  II 

murdered  him,  they  hoped  to  escape.  So  God  spared  his 
life.* 

His  ministry  at  St.  Peter's  was  so  successful  and  in- 
fluential that  when  Bullinger  died  there  was  no  question 
who  would  succeed  him.  So  Gualther  was  elected  an- 
tistes  in  1575.  As  head  of  the  Church,  he  introduced 
a  number  of  reforms.  He  set  aside  the  observance  of 
fastnacht,  a  custom  that  has  come  down  from  the  Cath- 
olic Church,  and  which  led  to  revelry  and  dissipation. 
He  introduced  evening  services  into  the  cathedral.f 
These  services  became  so  popular  that  by  1583  the  min- 
isters of  the  other  congregations  had  begun  them.  He 
died  December  25,  1586. 

Gualther  was  a  man  of  mark.  "Zwingli,"  says  Zim- 
merman, "excelled  in  his  fiery  reforms,  Bullinger  in  his 
excellent  commentaries  and  interpretation  of  the  Church 
Fathers,  Gualther  in  his  elegant  sermons  and  homilies." 
He  published  a  number  of  homilies  on  different  books 
of  the  Bible.  He  also  did  the  Church  a  great  service  in 
publishing  the  works  of  his  father-in-law,  Zwingli.  His 
style  was  elegant  and  he  was  a  fine  combination  of  a 
scholarly,  Biblical,  and  yet  popular,  teacher. 

Two  men  deserve  to  be  mentioned  as  associates  of 
Gualther  in  giving  the  theological  school  at  Zurich  its 
fame. 

Josiah  Simler,  the  son-in-law  of  Bullinger,  was  born 
November  6,  1530,  at  Cappel.  He  became  the  assistant 
at  the  St.  Peter's  Church,  Zurich  (1557-60).  When 
Bibliander  retired  (1560),  and  Peter  Martyr  died  (1562), 
he  was  made  professor  of  theology.     He  was  also  fa- 

*  He  narrated  all  this  to  Francis  Rambuletre,  a  French 
nobleman;  to  Arnold  Westerwald,  a  Frieslander ;  to  Dyonisius 
Melander  and  Frederick  Conders,  the  mayor  of  the  republic  of 
Groningen,  who  happened  to  be  guests  at  his  table,  October  1, 
1561. 

t  The  cathedral  is  the  parish  church  of  the  antistes. 


12  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

mous  in  mathematics,  astronomy  and  history.  He  is 
well  known  by  his  work,  "The  Helvetic  Republic."  He 
was  greatly  beloved  as  a  teacher  by  the  English  refugees 
at  Zurich.  He  was  prominent  as  a  polemist  against 
Stancar  and  as  an  apologist  for  orthodoxy.  He  died 
July  2,  1576. 

Rudolph  Collin  was  born  in  canton  Lucerne,  but  fled 
from  that  canton  because  threatened  with  death  for  his 
Protestantism.  He  came  to  Zurich,  where  he  became 
professor  of  Greek.  He  was  Zwingli's  companion  to 
the  conference  at  Marburg  in  1529.     He  died  in  1578. 

Section  2 

antistes  lewis  lavater  (  1 585-86) 

The  Lavater  family  was  one  of  the  noblest  of  the 
Zurich  families,  and  as  pious  as  noble.  It  had  given 
many  prominent  men  to  Zurich.  His  father  was  one  of 
the  most  ardent  supporters  of  Zwingli  in  his  reforms. 
He  was  a  brave  soldier,  and  was  sent  to  the  pope,  in 
1524,  about  the  unpaid  salaries  of  the  Swiss  soldiers. 
There,  while  Werdmiller  kissed  the  foot  of  the  pope, 
Lavater  remained  standing,  in  spite  of  their  order  that 
he  should  follow  his  companion's  example.  When  the 
pope  charged  that  his  masters  in  Switzerland  were  here- 
tics who  ought  to  be  driven  off  of  the  face  of  the  earth, 
he  boldly  replied  that  his  masters  clung  to  the  religion 
of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments,  and  were  obedient  to 
God,  a  reply  which  was  greeted  with  ridicule  by  the 
bystanders.  Thus,  even  to  the  pope's  face,  he  dared 
bear  witness  for  the  truth.  He  was  the  leader  of  the 
Swiss  soldiers  at  the  defeat  of  Cappel,  and  though  cen- 
sured, was  exonerated,  and  remained  magistrate  till  1544. 
It  was  very  fitting  that  this  prominent  and  staunch 
Protestant  family  should  be  represented  in  the  antistes' 
chair. 


ZURICH  13 

Lewis  Lavater  was  born  March  1,  1527.  As  a  boy,  at 
Kilchberg  (where  his  father  was  magistrate),  while 
playing  with  his  sister  in  a  room  of  the  castle,  he  sud- 
denly tore  himself  away,  and  the  next  moment  the  light- 
ning, so  fearful  in  Switzerland,  struck  the  room.  Pre- 
served thus  for  great  purposes,  he  studied  at  Zurich  and 
then  went  abroad  to  study.  At  Strasburg,  he  met  Bucer 
and  Sturm.  After  returning  through  Paris  and  Italy, 
he  became  pastor  at  Horgen  and  then  of  the  Fraumunster 
at  Zurich.  He  married  Margaret  Bullinger,  the  daugh- 
ter of  the  reformer.  After  Simler's  death,  because  of 
his  recognized  scholarship,  he  was  elected  professor  of 
theology,  but  declined.  When  Bullinger  became  old  he 
did  much  to  aid  him,  especially  in  preaching.  He  was 
a  faithful  pastor,  and,  like  his  father-in-law,  when  he 
found  a  promising  lad  he  aided  him  to  an  education. 
One  of  his  proteges  was  Baumler,  later  the  composer 
of  the  Zurich  catechism. 

He  was  also  active  in  the  introduction  of  singing 
into  the  churches  of  Zurich ;  for  Zurich,  in  its  opposition 
to  papal  rites,  had  gone  to  the  other  extreme,  and  had 
cast  out  the  organ  and  abolished  singing  in  the  church 
service.  Basle,  however,  retained  singing,  as  did  Win- 
terthur  and  Stein  on  the  Rhine,  both  in  the  canton  of 
Zurich.  But  Lavater  was  too  early  to  succeed  in  its  in- 
troduction into  the  church  service.  When  Gualther  be- 
came incapacitated,  he  was  chosen  antistes  December 
29,  1585 ;  but  his  antisteship  was  very  brief,  for  he  died 
July  15,  1586.  His  term  was  too  short  to  accomplish 
anything.  He,  however,  left  behind  him,  as  a  relic  of  his 
scholarship,  one  of  the  most  important  books  on  early 
Reformed  Church  history— a  small  work  on  the  rites  of 
the  Church.*  It  was  published  1539,  later,  1702,  by 
Ott,  with  some  additions.     It  gives  a  clear  view  of  the 

*"De  Ritibus  et  Institutis  Ecclesiae  Tigurinae." 


I4  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

early  customs  of  the  Reformed  Church.  This  book  and 
the  later  work  of  Herrliberger,*  the  latter  having  pic- 
tures of  the  religious  customs,  give  a  quite  complete 
view  of  the  rites  and  customs  of  the  Zurich  Church  and 
are  invaluable  to  the  student  of  Reformed  worship. 
Lavater  also  wrote  a  doctrinal  work  on  the  origin  and 
progress  of  the  controversy  between  Luther  and  Zwingli. 
Like  Zwingli,  he  published  commentaries  on  many  of  the 
books  of  the  Bible.  So  excellent  an  exegete  was  he 
that  he  is  still  referred  to  as  by  Zockler  in  his  recent 
work  on  Chronicles. 

Section  3 
antistes  john  rudolph  stumpf  (1586-92) 

After  Lavater's  brief  antistesship,  the  office  was  held 
open  for  a  month  in  the  hope  that  Gualther,  who  was 
still  living,  might  be  able  to  fill  it;  but  when  this  was 
found  impossible,  Stumpf  was  elected,  August  24,  1586. 
His  father,  like  Lavater's,  had  been  a  strong  adherent 
of  the  Reformation,  having  been  one  of  the  delegates 
from  Zurich  to  the  Bern  conference  in  1528.  He  then 
published  a  "History  of  the  Council  of  Constance,"  and 
later  wrote  one  of  the  most  important  historical  works 
of  that  period — the  largest  work  of  the  day,  "The  Swiss 
Chronicles,"    1547. 

John  Rudolph,  his  son,  later  the  antistes,  was  born 
August  27,  1550,  and  was  educated  at  Zurich.  When 
seventeen  years  of  age  he  was  sent  to  deliver  his  father's 
"Swiss  Chronicles"  to  some  of  the  thirteen  cities,  to 
which  he  presented  it.  At  the  close  of  his  studies  at 
Zurich  he  went  to  England  with  Bishop  Hooper,  where 
he  was  most  cordially  received  by  Cranmer,  to  whom 
Bullinger  had  given  him   a   letter  of  introduction.     In 

*  "Heilige  Ceremonien  gottesdienstliche  Kircheniibungen  und 
Gewohnheiten  der  reformirten  Stadt  Zurich,"  1750. 


ZURICH 


15 


1584,  he  became  pastor  at  the  Preacher's  Church,  at 
Zurich,  and  in  1586  he  was  elected  antistes.  He  did 
not  reveal  the  ability  of  his  predecessors  in  this  office, 
perhaps  because  he  did  not  have  the  opportunity.  By 
this  time  the  aim  of  the  Zurich  Church  was  not  to 
progress,  but  to  conserve.  His  mission,  therefore,  seems 
to  have  been  to  preserve  the  traditions  handed  down  to 
him.  He,  however,  reveals  the  growing  tendency  of 
Zurich  to  high-Calvinism.  Zurich,  under  Zwingli  and 
Bullinger,  had  held  to  a  broader  and  lower  Calvinism, — 
that  is,  while  they  held  to  election,  yet  it  was  not  the 
formative  principle  of  their  theology  as  of  Calvin's,  and 
they  both  held  to  universal  rather  than  to  limited  atone- 
ment, thus  emphasizing  redemption  rather  than  elec- 
tion. Of  the  prominent  theologians  of  Zurich,  the  only 
one  who,  up  to  this  time,  had  been  a  high-Calvinist,  had 
been  Peter  Martyr,  and  he  had  come  there  as  a  stranger. 
Zurich  had  stood  for  low-Calvinism.  But  now,  how- 
ever, high-Calvinism  came  to  the  front.  For  when  the 
controversy  broke  out  in  Bern  between  the  Calvinists 
and  their  opponent,  Huber,  Stumpf  took  a  strong  stand 
for  high-Calvinism.  In  the  name  of  the  Zurich  Church, 
he  wrote  its  instructions  to  that  council  at  Bern,  which 
was  to  decide  that  controversy. 

With  this  strictness  of  doctrine  came  in  also  strict- 
ness of  morals.  In  1586,  a  law  was  enacted  that,  dur- 
ing the  early  Church  service  on  Sunday,  all  shops  must 
close ;  that  in  towns,  one  person  in  each  family  must 
go  to  church,  and  that  the  service  must  not  last  longer 
than  three-quarters  of  an  hour.  He  urged  Switzerland 
to  become  united  in  its  Reformed  faith,  and  to  this  end 
tried  hard  to  get  Basle  to  adopt  the  Second  Helvetic 
Confession,  but  in  vain.  Zurich  also  aided  the  Protes- 
tants of  the  canton  of  Appenzell  to  become  separated 
from  the  Catholic  part  of  that  canton.  He  died  Jan- 
uary 19,  1592. 


t6  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

Section  4 
antistes  burkhard  leeman   (1592-1613) 

The  year  of  Zwingli's  death  was  the  year  of  his 
birth  (1531).  After  studying  at  Zurich,  he  visited  Bern 
and  Marburg,  where,  in  1554,  he  received  the  degree 
of  master.*  He  was,  therefore,  called  Master  Leeman. 
In  1560,  he  became  assistant  at  the  cathedral  at  Zurich 
and  professor  of  Hebrew;  in  1571,  pastor  of  the 
Preachers'  Church,  and  in  1584,  of  the  Fraumunster. 
In  1592,  he  was  elected  antistes. 

His  most  important  work  was  his  Catechism,  which 
met  a  felt  want  in  the  Church.  Leo  Juda  had  written 
his  excellent  catechisms,  a  larger  in  1534,  and  a  smaller 
in  1 54 1.  But  they  ultimately  proved  unsatisfactory,  the 
former  being  too  abstract  for  the  youth,  and  the  latter 
too  brief.  So,  in  1594,  Leeman  published  a  catechism 
which  became  so  popular  that  it  ran  through  three  edi- 
tions by  1606.  It  followed  the  Heidelberg  Catechism 
in  its  threefold  division  of  misery,  redemption  and 
thankfulness.  It  mediated  between  Juda's  catechism  be- 
fore him  and  Baumler's  "Zurich  Catechism"  after  him. 

He  was  also  active  in  the  moral  history  of  Zurich. 
He  became  greatly  alarmed  at  the  increase  of  luxury 
which  threatened  to  imperil  the  peculiar  simplicity  of 
Swiss  life.  As  the  state  did  nothing  about  it,  he  and 
the  ministers  of  Zurich  went  before  the  city  council 
and  gave  them  the  alternative  of  either  punishing  the 
guilty,  or  the  Church  would  take  it  out  of  their  hands 
and  announce  them  publicly  from  the  pulpit. f  This 
alarmed   the   state,    as   it    forboded   a   conflict   between 

*  The  Swiss  rarely  received  these  honorary  titles  from  uni- 
versities. Zwingli,  when  he  received  the  master's  degree,  only 
replied:  "One  is  your  Master,  Christ."  This  set  a  prejudice  in 
Switzerland  against  such  degrees  as  ministering  to  pride. 

t  Zwingli  and  Zurich  never  gave  the  autonomy  to  the  Church 


ZURICH  17 

Church  and  state,  and  if  the  former  were  victorious, 
might  lead  to  the  introduction  of  Calvinistic  Church  dis- 
cipline. In  1601,  the  city  council,  alarmed  at  the  sharp 
preaching  of  the  ministers,  called  them  before  it,  when 
Leeman  strongly  defended  himself  and  his  brethren. 
But  it  was  found  impossible  to  carry  out  the  strict  laws 
demanded  by  the  clergy.  Leeman  even  went  farther  and 
advocated  the  introduction  of  Church  discipline  by  the 
Church.  We  here  see  how  Calvinistic  Church  govern- 
ment as  well  as  Calvinistic  doctrine  was  strongly  affect- 
ing the  Zurich  Church.  Leeman  also  urged  the  intro- 
duction of  singing  into  the  service,  and  the  city  council 
finally  gave  permission  (1698),  but  on  condition  that 
the  hymns  should  be  sung  without  the  use  of  the  organ. 
He  died  September  12,  1613. 

Two  important  professors,  in  this  period,  need  to 
be  noted. 

Prof.  John  William  Stucki  was  born  1542.  He 
studied  at  Zurich,  and  then  went  to  Lausanne,  Stras- 
burg  and  Paris.  While  there,  at  the  request  of  Peter 
Martyr,  he  accompanied  the  latter  to  the  famous  Con- 
ference of  Poissy,  near  Paris,  1561,  where  Beza  so  elo- 
quently defended  the  Huguenots.  Then  he  went  to 
Italy,  staying  over  a  year  at  Venice,  studying,  especially 
Chaldee  and  Syriac,  with  a  learned  Jew.  In  1568,  he 
returned  home  and  was  elected  in  Bibliander's  place  as 
professor  of  the  Old  Testament.  He  represented  Zurich 
at  the  Bern  Conference,  in  1588,  where  Huber  attacked 
Beza's  doctrine  of  election  as  being  foreign  to  the  early 
Reformed  Church.  Stucki  there  revealed  his  high-Cal- 
vinism by  taking  sides  against  Huber  and  for  Beza.  He 
and  antistes   Stump  f  committed  the  Zurich   Church  to 

that   Calvin   did.    To   the   Church    was   given   the    function   of 
teaching  religion,  and  to  the  State  that  of  disciplining  its  mem- 
bers.   Hence  those  who  were  censured  and  excommunicated  by 
the  Church  were  arrested  and  put  in  prison. 
2 


t8  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

high-Calvinism.  He  also  supported  the  antistes  when 
he  favored  the  introduction  of  the  Calvinistic.  views  of 
church  discipline  into  the  Zurich  Church.  The  publi- 
cation of  the  Lutheran  "Formula  of  Concord"  drove  the 
Reformed  closer  together,  and,  therefore,  Switzerland 
tried  to  get  nearer  the  Reformed  of  Germany.  He  was, 
therefore,  sent  by  the  Evangelical  Diet  (1580),  to  Prince 
Casimir  of  the  Palatinate  to  get  him  to  use  his  influence 
at  the  diet  at  Augsburg  for  a  more  favorable  attitude 
toward  the  Reformed.     He  died  1667. 

Another  prominent  professor  was  Marx  Baumler. 
He  was  as  prominent  in  practical  theology  as  Stucki  was 
in  dogmatics.  Born  1555,  his  talents  were  early  recog- 
nized by  Lewis  Lavater,  who  aided  him  in  his  studies. 
He  studied  at  Zurich,  Geneva  and  Heidelberg,  and  then 
spent  considerable  time  in  the  Palatinate  Church,  where 
he  became  inspector  of  Alzheim.  Recalled  to  Zurich 
1594,  he  became  professor  of  catechetics,  and  in  1607 
professor  of  theology.  As  a  theologian  he  was  a  Cal- 
vinist,  and  was  attacked  by  Kauffman  for  introducing 
the  doctrine  of  election  of  grace.  He  made  a  defence 
before  the  city  council  (1597)  in  which  he  quoted 
Zwingli,  Bullinger,  Gualther  and  Lavater  as  holding  that 
doctrine.  But  his  most  important  work  was  the  Zurich 
catechism  (1609).  It  was  a  combination  of  the  Heidel- 
berg Catechism  with  Leo  Juda's,  and  continued  in  use 
until  the  last  century.     He  died  161 1. 

Section  5 

antistes  john  jacob  breitinger  (1613-45)* 

At  last  the  glory  of  the  early  Zurich  Church  seemed 
to  return  again  in  Breitinger.  As  long  as  Zwingli,  Bul- 
linger and  Gualther  lived,  Zurich  occupied  the  front  rank 

*  See  Zimmermann's  "Die  Zurcher  Kirche,"  pages  143-184. 
Also   Morikofer's   "J.  J.   Breitinger." 


ZURICH  19 

in  the  Reformed  Church  in  learning  and  influence.  They 
were  followed  by  lesser  lights.  Breitinger  was  the 
brightest  light  among  the  antistes  after  the  reformation. 
Indeed,  Zurich,  in  all  her  history,  has  had  only  five  an- 
tistes of  the  first  rank,  Zwingli,  Bullinger,  Gualther, 
then,  after  a  quarter  of  a  century,  Breitinger,  and  a 
century  and  a  half  later,  Hess,  at  the  end  of  the  eigh- 
teenth century.  Breitinger  gave  the  Zurich  Church  the 
stamp  it  bore  until  in  the  nineteenth  century. 

Fortunate  was  it  for  Zurich  that  she  had  such  a 
leader  just  at  that  time.  For  great  conflicts  then  arose: 
theological  controversies  as  between  the  Calvinists  and 
Arminians,  into  which  the  Swiss  were  drawn,  and 
also  political  dangers  owing  to  the  Thirty  Years  War. 
A  man  of  profound  sagacity,  far-seeing  vision,  com- 
manding influence  and  strong  faith  was  needed  to  guide 
the  Church  on  the  troubled  seas.  Breitinger  proved  to 
be  the  man  for  the  hour.  He  made  Bullinger  his  model 
and  had  ability  and  wisdom  enough  to  make  himself 
worthy  of  him.  He  combined,  in  a  remarkable  degree, 
learning,  eloquence  and  common  sense. 

The  year  of  Bullinger's  death  was  the  year  of  his 
birth,  April  19,  1575.  His  father  dying  when  he  was 
but  six  years  old,  he  had  the  good  fortune  to  be  reared 
by  a  great  uncle  as  his  own  son.  While  attending  the 
Latin  school  at  Zurich,  Antistes  Lavater,  his  teacher, 
once  laid  his  hand  on  him  and  gave  utterance  to  the 
wish  that  he  might  follow  his  footsteps  and  ultimately 
become  antistes.  But,  for  a  long  time,  he  was  dull  and 
slow  in  his  studies,  so  that  in  1592  he  felt  like  giving 
up  the  ministry  and  going  to  a  trade.  It  was  especially 
the  tears  of  his  mother  that  prevailed  on  him  to  con- 
tinue his  studies.  From  that  time  he  was  a  changed  young 
man  and  began  to  reveal  unusual  diligence  and  aptitude 
for  study.  After  studying  at  Zurich  he  went  abroad 
(1593-96).     First  he  went  to  the  university  of  Herborn, 


20  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

in  Germany,  to  hear  Professor  Piscator.  After  a  year's 
diligent  study  there  he  went  to  Marburg,  where  he 
studied  philosophy  under  Professor  Goclenius.  Then,  in 
1594,  he  went  to  the  university  of  Franeker,  in  Holland. 
Everywhere  he  gained  the  special  friendship  of  his  pro- 
fessors by  his  diligence  and  force  of  character. 

His  student  life  in  Holland  seemed  a  prophecy  of  his 
later  relations  to  the  Dutch  in  the  synod  of  Dort.  At 
Franeker  he  studied  with  many  who  afterwards  became 
his  fellow-members  of  that  synod.  Thus  Bogerman,  later 
the  president  of  the  synod,  sat  at  the  same  table  with 
him.  Then  he  went  to  Heidelberg,  but  the  plague  broke 
up  the  university,  and  he  went  to  Basle,  where  Grynaeus 
and  Polanus  were  named  "the  two  beautiful  lights  of 
learning."  Wherever  he  went  he  was  given  unusual  ad- 
vantages and  shown  special  honor.  At  Herborn,  he 
lived  with  a  son  of  the  author  of  the  Heidelberg  Cate- 
chism, Olevianus,  and  at  Basle,  with  Castelin,  the  pro- 
fessor of  eloquence. 

In  1597,  he  returned  to  Zurich  and  became  pastor  at 
Zumikon.*  In  1610,  he  became  assistant  at  the  Latin 
school  of  the  cathedral  at  Zurich;  in  1605,  professor  of 
logic  in  the  new  college  of  humanities  at  the  Frau- 
munster  Church  there.  At  that  time  he  felt  like  giving 
up  the  ministry  on  account  of  ill  health.  Once,  while 
preaching  in  the  Fraumunster,  suddenly,  to  the  horror 
of  his  hearers,  his  mind  became  a  blank.  He  recovered 
himself  and  closed  the  service.  But  he  never  after  as- 
cended the  pulpit  without  fear.f     In  1609,  without  his 

*  His  biographer  notes  a  strange  coincidence  here.  When 
Breitinger  was  a  babe,  his  mother,  accompanied  by  a  servant 
who  carried  him  in  a  cradle  on  her  head,  sought  shelter  there  in  a 
hotel  from  a  sudden  rain-storm.  And  now  this  babe  grown  to 
manhood  became  their  pastor.  This  coincidence,  together  with 
his  unusual  ability,  greatly  endeared  him  to  this  congregation. 

t  In  this  he  fulfilled  the  Latin  motto,  "qui  ascendit  cum  hor- 
rore,  descendit  cum  honore."  (He  who  ascends  it  with  fear  de- 
scends it  with  honor.) 


ZURICH  21 

knowledge,  he  was  appointed  assistant  to  the  antistes. 
The  weekly  services  at  the  cathedral  were  turned  over 
to  him,  and  his  preaching  became  very  popular.     In  1611, 
he  was  called  as  assistant  to  the  St.  Peter's  Church,  and, 
soon  after,  a  strange  event  occurred.     Without  inform- 
ing his  friends,  he  accepted  an  invitation  to  a  vacation 
trip  to  Geneva.     Hardly  had  he  departed  when  the  plague 
broke  out  in  Zurich  which  caused  4,500  deaths.     The 
rumor  spread  abroad  that  he  had  fled  because  of  the 
plague.     So  great  was  the  feeling  against  him  that  the 
city  council  considered  how  they  might  punish  him  for 
leaving  his  post  at  such  a  critical  time,  and  his  wife 
feared  to  go  out  into  the  street.     Of  all  this  he  knew 
nothing  until  he  returned  after  a  journey  which  lasted 
several  weeks.     He  at  once  disabused  the  minds  of  the 
Zurich  people  by  becoming  the  most  active  in  the  visi- 
tation   of   the   sick.     He   was   busy    from   morning   till 
night  and  often  at  night  a  half  a  dozen  persons  would 
be  waiting  at  his  house  with  lanterns  to  take  him  to 
the  sick.     Fortunately,  God's  providence  watched  over 
his  life,  so  that  he  did  not  catch  the  dread  disease.     As  a 
result  from  being  the  most  unpopular  minister  of  the 
city  he  became  the  most  popular.     No  wonder,  then,  that 
when,  two  years  later,  the  position  of  antistes  became 
vacant,  he  was  elected  to  it,  September  30,  1613,  at  the 
age  of  thirty-eight.     He  came  to  this  position  in   full 
vigor  of  age,  health  and  strength.     It  was  soon  evident 
that   a   vigorous   hand   had   hold    of   the   helm    of   the 
Church.    His  preaching  at  the  cathedral  became  so  popu- 
lar that  eighty  new  seats  had  to  be  placed  in  the  Church, 
and  these  were  not  sufficient  to  accommodate  the  people, 
some    of    whom    came    from    Catholic    districts.     Like 
Zwingli,  he  preached  on  Friday  as  well  as  Sunday,  so  that 
the  country  people  coming  in  to  market  might  attend. 
In    1614,   he   was   elected   inspector  of   the  schools  of 
Zurich,  and  so  became  the  founder  of  the  public  schools 


22  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

of  that  canton. 

One  of  the  most  important  events  in  his  life  was  the 
Synod  of  Dort,  in  Holland  (November,  1618-March, 
1619).  The  Dutch  invited  the  Swiss,  together  with  the 
Reformed  of  other  countries,  to  that  synod,  so  as  to 
get  a  consensus  of  all  the  Reformed  Churches  in  regard 
to  doctrine,  in  order  that  they  might  know  how  to  deal 
with  the  new  Arminian  views  that  had  come  up.  When, 
in  the  summer  of  1618,  the  Swiss  first  received  their 
invitation  to  the  Synod,  there  was  a  tendency  to  decline 
it.  The  Arminian  controversy  was  looked  upon  as 
rather  a  local  controversy  which  concerned  the  church 
of  the  Netherlands  and  not  Switzerland.  They  did  not 
realize  that  underneath  it  was  a  general  revulsion  against 
high  supralapsarian  Calvinism.  Breitinger  at  first  was 
unfavorable  to  the  acceptance  of  the  invitation  to  Dort, 
because  such  conferences  often  only  embittered  the  strife, 
as  at  Marburg  in  1529.  He  suggested  that  instead  of 
sending  delegates  to  Dort,  Switzerland  might  send  a 
judgment  on  the  points  at  issue. 

But  the  Dutch  were  not  satisfied  with  this.  Special 
pressure  was  brought  to  bear  on  Breitinger  by  the  Dutch 
ambassador  in  Switzerland  and  by  Bogerman,  his  for- 
mer fellow-student  at  Franeker.  For  the  Arminians  had 
been  quoting  the  Swiss,  especially  Bullinger,  as  being 
on  their  side.  The  Dutch  Calvinists,  therefore,  were 
very  anxious  to  have  the  Swiss  present,  so  as  to  prove 
that,  from  Zwingli  down,  the  Swiss  sympathized  with 
them.  The  matter  was  finally  disposed  of  by  the  Evan- 
gelical Diet  at  Aarau,  September  17,  1618.  Letters  were 
there  read  from  the  Prince  of  Orange  and  from  the 
Elector  of  the  Palatinate,  who  exerted  a  great  deal  of 
influence  among  the  Swiss,  urging  their  acceptance  of 
the  invitation  to  send  delegates  to  Dort.  So  Breitinger 
finally  acceded  and  gave  his  reasons  for  doing  so, — that 
the  Dutch  Church  looked  up  to  the  Swiss  Church  as  the 


ZURICH 


23 


mother  church  of  the  Reformer, — that  their  refusal 
would  be  apt  to  be  misconstrued  by  the  Arminians  into 
indifference  or  opposition  to  the  Calvinists.  So  the 
Diet  appointed  Breitinger,  of  Zurich ;  Rutimeyer,  of 
Bern;  Koch,  of  Schaffhausen,  and  Beck  and  Meyer,  of 
Basle,  as  the  Swiss  delegates.  Geneva  also  appointed 
delegates,  but  they  were  not  included  in  this  list,  as 
Geneva  was  not  a  part  of  the  Swiss  confederacy  at  that 
time.  The  delegates  from  Geneva  were  Diodati  and 
Theodore  Tronchin. 

But,  although  the  Swiss  sent  delegates,  they  were 
careful  to  guard  them  by  instructions.  The  delegates 
were  not  to  allow  any  revision  of  the  Swiss  confessions 
and  to  approve  only  what  was  in  harmony  with  these 
confessions.  They  were  to  limit  themselves  in  their  de- 
cisions only  to  the  five  articles  of  the  Arminians  around 
which  the  controversy  gathered.  Before  going  any  far- 
ther, they  must  first  get  advice  from  the  churches  at 
home.  Breitinger  also  laid  before  the  diet  a  number  of 
aphorisms  which  stated  the  views  of  the  Diet  on  the 
topics  before  the  synod.  These  were  later  approved  by 
Bern  and  Schaffhausen.  But  they  were  not  strong 
enough  for  Basle,  which  drew  up  its  own  propositions 
sharply  antithetic  to  the  Arminians  and  introducing 
some  other  points  of  the  controversy.  But  Breitinger's 
aphorisms  proved  very  influential  at  the  synod,  for  they 
were  incorporated  almost  verbally  into  the  canons 
adopted  by  the  synod. 

Through  the  great  liberality  of  the  Dutch,  the  Swiss 
delegates  travelled  to  Dort  in  great  comfort,  Breitinger 
being  especially  favored  by  being  allowed  to  have  his 
own  secretary  and  private  physician,  and  also  an  out- 
rider for  protection.  When  he  arrived  at  Dort,  he  was 
received  with  special  honor  as  the  representative  of  the 
mother-church  of  the  Reformed  and  the  seventh  suc- 
cessor of    Zwingli.     With   the   Bishop   of   Llandaff,   of 


24  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

England,  he  was  the  most  distinguished  foreigner  at  the 
synod. 

The  Swiss  delegates  soon  revealed  their  attitude  as 
against  the  Arminians.  Breitinger  defended  his  prede- 
cessor, Bullinger,  against  the  claim  of  the  Arminians 
that  he  favored  their  views.  Though  usually  so  cir- 
cumspect in  his  language,  he  became  quite  severe  against 
the  Arminians.  So  strongly  did  the  Swiss  champion  the 
cause  of  the  Calvinists  that  the  Dutch  were  accustomed 
to  call  them  their  "strong  bulwark."  He  was  one  of  the 
committee  to  draw  up  the  canons  of  the  synod,*  which 
accounts  for  his  aphorisms  becoming  a  part  of  the  canons. 
When  the  canons  were  adopted,  he  declared  it  was  the 
happiest  day  of  his  life. 

While  he  was  at  Dort  the  centenary  of  the  reforma- 
tion at  Zurich  occurred,  on  January  i,  1619.  He  ar- 
ranged a  celebration  of  that  event,  and  invited  to  it  the 
deputies  of  the  States-General  of  Holland,  Bogerman, 
the  president  of  the  synod,  the  Bishop  of  Llandaff,  the 
delegates  from  the  Palatinate,  and  the  Swiss  delegates.! 

At  the  close  of  the  synod,  the  Dutch  government 
presented  the  Swiss  with  4,000  gulden  for  their  return 
expenses,  but  they  especially  honored  Breitinger  by  or- 
dering that  out  of  it  he  was  to  receive  100  gulden  more 
than  any  of  the  others.  The  Dutch  also  gave  him  the 
title  of  Doctor  of  Divinity,  but  he  refused  it,  as  such 
titles  were  uncommon  among  the  Swiss.  While  of  the 
other  Swiss  delegates  Rutimeyer  went  to  Marburg,  and 
the  Basle  delegates  to  England,  Breitinger  returned  to 

*  See  Morikofer  "J-  J-  Breitinger,"  page  33.  Also  Finsler 
in  Meili's  "Theologische  Zeitschrift,"  1895,  page  185. 

t  At  Zurich  also,  in  Breitinger's  absence,  the  centenary  of 
the  reformation  was  observed.  On  January  1,  1619,  a  festival 
sermon  was  preached  in  the  morning,  and  there  were  Latin  ad- 
dresses on  the  progress  of  the  reformation  by  prominent  pro- 
fessors. 


ZURICH 


25 


Zurich.  His  return,  through  the  canton  of  Zurich,  was 
like  a  triumphal  entry.  Sixty-four  outriders,  repre- 
senting the  civil  and  religious  authorities  of  Zurich, 
went  as  far  as  the  Rhine  to  escort  him  back  to  Zu- 
rich. The  roads  and  streets  as  he  passed  through 
were  filled  with  people  gathered  to  show  him  honor. 
When  he  placed  before  the  city  council  of  Zurich  the 
seventy-three  gulden  which  remained  of  the  money  that 
the  council  had  given  him  for  his  expenses,  the  council, 
to  show  their  appreciation  of  the  way  he  had  honored 
his  native  city  at  Dort,  presented  him  with  a  gold  and 
a  silver  cup,  each  worth  fifty  crowns.  One  of  them  had 
the  inscription: 

"Double  strength  has  the  pulpit  when  bound  to  the  city 

hall. 
Double  strength  has  the  city  council  when  in  harmony 

with  the  pulpit." 

Breitinger  then  reported  to  the  council  the  canons  of 
Dort.  But  they  were  not  officially  adopted  by  Zurich, 
or  by  any  of  the  Swiss  cantons  or  districts  except 
Geneva;  and  Breitinger,  strange  to  say,  in  his  synodical 
address  for  that  year,  does  not  call  attention  to  them, 
But  we  shall  later  see  that,  in  the  days  of  the  Helvetic 
Consensus  these  canons,  though  never  officially  adopted 
by  Zurich,  were  yet  virtually  the  standard  by  which  the 
doctrine  of  the  Church  was  judged.  Thus,  in  the  heresy 
case  of  Zink,  as  we  shall  see,  the  canons  of  Dort  were 
regarded  as  authoritative.  There  seems  to  be  little  doubt 
that  the  Zurich  Church,  in  the  days  of  Heidegger  and 
Klingler,  looked  on  the  canons  of  Dort  as  being  the  au- 
thoritative interpretation  of  the  Helvetic  Confession. 

During  the  awful  Thirty  Years  War,  Breitinger 
stood  bravely  at  the  head  of  the  Church.  He  was  es- 
pecially active  for  the  Reformed  in  persecution.  Thus, 
after  the  terrible  massacre  of  the  Reformed  in  the 
Valtellina  Valley  in  the  canton  of  the  Grisons,  he  and 


26  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

Zurich  took  special  care  of  the  refugees.  When  the 
Reformed  of  Germany  were  so  terribly  persecuted  in 
the  Thirty  Years  War  and  driven  out,  he  was  their 
refuge.  His  house  was  always  open  to  young  students 
coming  from  Bohemia  and  the  Palatinate,  so  that  they 
might  be  able  to  continue  their  studies.  Thus,  one  of 
them,  the  famous  scholar,  John  Henry  Ott,  declared 
that  he  learned  more  in  Breitinger's  house  than  in  the 
university.  Between  1624  and  1642,  not  less  than 
twenty-seven  collections  were  taken  for  the  persecuted 
in  Germany,  amounting  to  35,000  gulden.  His  health, 
however,  began  to  fail,  and  after  several  strokes  he  died, 
April  1,  1645,  nearly  seventy  years  of  age.  His  last 
words  were:  "Whether  we  live  or  die,  we  are  the 
Lord's."  His  library  he  left  to  the  descendants  of  the 
Breitinger  family,  hoping  that  it  would  stimulate  their 
young  men  to  become  students.  The  result  has  been  an 
almost  unbroken  succession  of  prominent  men  in  that 
family. 

Breitinger  was  great  in  many  ways: 

1.  As  a  preacher.  We  have  already  seen  how  he 
crowded  the  cathedral  at  his  preaching.  His  published 
synodical  addresses  sustain  his  reputation.  His  ser- 
mons on  the  Lord's  Prayer  (published  1616),  reveal 
clearness  of  thought  and  are  full  of  unction. 

2.  As  a  polemist.  He  was  strong  in  his  polemics 
against  the  Catholics  and  the  Lutherans.  But,  though 
they  were  very  decided,  they  were  yet  kindly  in  tone. 
The  Catholics  were  then  accustomed  to  argue  that  Prot- 
estantism was  a  sect,  and  they  declared  no  sect  con- 
tinued to  exist  a  hundred  years.  Breitinger,  in  1610, 
published  a  reply,  showing  that  the  Reformed  Church 
was  not  a  sect,  but  had  the  marks  of  a  true  church.  And 
he  also  proved  that  its  history  would  not  end  with  its 
centenary.  Against  the  Catholics  he  repeatedly  lifted 
his  warning  voice.    Once  when  a  pervert  to  Catholicism, 


ZURICH  27 

who  had  become  a  monk,  through  Breitinger's  influence 
returned  to  Protestantism,  the  anger  of  the  Catholics  in 
the  city  of  Baden,  near  Zurich,  was  so  great  that  Zurich 
became  alarmed  for  his  safety,  and  sent  three  hundred 
armed  citizens  to  Baden  to  guard  him  back  to  Zurich. 
But  he  rode  boldly  through  Baden  back  to  Zurich.  It 
had  been  arranged  that  some  of  the  school  children 
should  go  out  to  meet  and  welcome  him.  When  he 
heard  their  shouts  of  joy  at  his  safety  he  was  greatly 
moved,  even  to  tears. 

3.  As  a  statesman.  No  antistes  since  the  days  of 
Bullinger  exerted  so  great  an  influence  on  the  state  as 
he.  When  the  Reformed  were  so  terribly  persecuted 
in  the  Grisons,  he  and  the  other  ministers  went  to  the 
city  council,  asking  them  to  succor  them.  It  used  to 
be  supposed  that  he  was  very  cautious  in  politics,  but 
recently,  Professor  Egli  has  shown  that  he  was  the 
leader  of  the  Swedish  party  at  Zurich.  Zurich  was,  at 
that  time,  divided  into  two  parties :  a  conservative  party, 
which  opposed  all  foreign  alliances,  for  fear  they  would 
bring  trouble  on  the  canton ;  and  a  religious  party,  which 
wanted  to  join  with  the  Swedes  against  the  Catholics. 
Breitinger  was  the  leader  of  the  latter,  and  as  Egli 
says,  it  was  not  his  fault  that  Zurich  was  not  involved 
in  the  Thirty  Years  War.  As  a  mark  of  friendship  to 
Breitinger,  the  Swedish  ambassador  presented  him  with 
a  portrait  of  the  great  Swedish  king,  Gustavus  Adolphus. 
Breitinger  also  urged  the  fortification  of  Zurich  and  the 
city  finally  decided  to  follow  his  advice,  although  the 
fortifications  were  not  begun  till  1642. 

4.  As  an  ecclesiastical  administrator.  He  introduced 
many  reforms  into  the  Church,  as  the  closing  of  the 
cathedral,  except  during  the  hours  of  church  services. 
He  had  a  religious  census  made  of  the  city  (1634),  and 
it  was  repeated  every  three  years.  He  introduced  the 
"day  of  prayer  and  fasting"  into  the  Church  in   1619. 


28  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

This,  after  1638,  was  held  yearly,  in  the  autumn.  He 
tried  to  have  that  day  introduced  all  over  Switzerland, 
but  failed,  though  later  it  came  into  general  use,  and 
is  now  universally  observed  in  Switzerland  as  the  annual 
day  of  thanksgiving,  repentance  and  prayer.  He  intro- 
duced the  custom  of  catechizing  the  children  on  Sunday 
morning  after  the  church  service,  a  custom  still  kept  up 
by  the  Zurich  Church.  One  of  the  greatest  of  his  re- 
forms was  the  introduction  of  singing  into  the  church 
services.  In  the  latter  part  of  the  previous  century  the 
inhabitants  of  the  Toggenburg  had  been  forbidden  by 
their  ruler,  the  Catholic  Abbot  of  St.  Gall,  to  sing 
psalms,  and  they  appealed  to  Zurich  to  aid  them  in  their 
rights  as  Protestants,  which  she  did.  But  it  involved 
her  in  an  inconsistency, — that  she  helped  others  to  sing 
and  yet  opposed  singing  herself.  So  singing  was  or- 
dered to  be  introduced  January  25,  1598.  But  the  people 
looked  upon  it  as  a  novelty,  and  many  of  them  left  the 
church  after  the  sermon  and  before  the  hymn  was  sung 
at  the  close  of  the  service.  It  was  due  to  Breitinger  that 
singing  was  generally  introduced.  In  1640,  he  sent  a 
pastoral  letter  to  the  ministers  urging  the  introduction 
of  singing.  Before  the  publication  of  a  hymn-book  for 
Zurich,  in  1615,  only  the  young  people  sang,  but  after 
1619  the  whole  congregation  took  part  in  the  singing, 
and  even  four-part  music  was  introduced.  To  offset  the 
introduction  of  theatrical  plays,  he  led  to  the  founding 
of  a  library.  This  led,  in  1631,  to  the  foundation  of 
the  present  valuable  city  library  at  Zurich  in  the  Water 
Church.  He  also  led  in  the  issuing  of  a  new  edition  of 
the  Zurich  Bible.  For  Zurich  had  had  the  honor  of 
publishing  the  first  Protestant  Bible*  in  1530,  four  years 
before  the  first  Luther  Bible  was  published.  In  it, 
Luther's  translation  was  utilized  as   far  as  it  had  ap- 

*  For     a     full     description     see     Mezger     "Geschichte     der 
deutschen  Bibelubersetzung  in  der  schweizer-reformirten  Kirche." 


ZURICH  29 

peared,  but  Zwingli  and  Juda  added  translations  of  other 
books,  as  the  Prophetical  Books  and  Apocrypha.  It  was 
not  so  popular  in  style  as  the  Lutheran  Bible,  but  was 
a  more  literal  translation,  and  being  in  the  Swiss  dialect 
of  the  German  language,  it  soon  became  popular  with  the 
Swiss.  It  was  frequently  reprinted  in  the  sixteenth 
century  by  that  indomitable  Zurich  printer,  Christopher 
Froschouer,  who  was  a  veritable  Bible  society  in  himself, 
because  he  published  so  many  editions.  His  book-mark 
on  the  title-page,  a  frog  (his  name,  Froschauer,  was  from 
frosch,  a  frog),  is  to  be  seen  in  many  editions.  This 
Bible  was  generally  introduced  into  the  districts  in- 
fluenced by  Zurich  as  the  Toggenburg,  Glarus,  Thurgau, 
Grisons  and  SchafFhausen.  But  Appenzell  used  the  Lu- 
ther Bible,  as  did  Basle,  whose  liturgy  of  1666  officially 
recognized  it.* 

5.  As  a  pastor.  In  this  he  excelled.  Theologian, 
polemist  and  preacher  as  he  was,  he  was  yet  far  from 
scholastic  subtleties  and  emphasized  practical  Christianity. 
We  have  already  noted  his  power  in  the  visitation  of  the 
sick  during  the  plague.  He  always  revealed  the  great- 
est tact. 

In  those  days  it  was  believed  that  persons  could  be 
literally  possessed  with  a  devil.  A  story  is  told  of  Breit- 
inger,  that  he  was  called  on  one  occasion  to  see  a  fisher- 
man, who  had  called  his  family  together  and  told  them 
that  that  night  when  the  clock  struck  twelve  he  would 
be  torn  by  evil  spirits  and  carried  away  by  them.  As  he 
continued  in  this  belief  up  to  eleven  o'clock  and  was  in 
great  agony,  the  family  sent  for  Breitinger.  As  the  clock 
approached  the  hour  of  twelve,  one  by  one  the  family  left 
the  room.  Breitinger  remained  and  continually  com- 
forted him  by  assuring  him  that  God  would  give  the 
needed  help.  He  prayed  with  the  man,  referring  in  the 
prayer  to  God's  grace  and  strength  against  evil  spirits. 
The  man  became  very  weak.    As  the  clock  struck  twelve, 

*  In  1679  the  Bible  was  translated  into  the  Romansch  lan- 
guage, the  language  of  the  Engadine. 


30 


THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 


the  man  declared  he  had  conquered  and  fell  asleep  and 
slept  till  morning. 

Breitinger  was,  therefore,  a  remarkable  antistes. 
Tholuck,  though  not  Reformed,  yet  bears  his  witness 
to  Breitinger's  greatness,  for  he  says  that  Breitinger  was 
the  greatest  ecclesiastical  character  of  the  Reformed 
Church  in  the  seventeenth  century.  Breitinger  reminded 
Zurich  of  her  position  as  the  mother  church  of  the  Evan- 
gelical gospel  in  Switzerland, — that  she  must,  therefore, 
be  a  beacon  light  to  other  cantons  and  other  lands.  He 
thus  roused  her  religious  self-consciousness,  so  that  she 
regained  her  foremost  position  in  Switzerland  and 
elsewhere. 

During  Breitinger's  time  several  theologians  appeared 
at  Zurich,  but  he  overshadowed  them  all  by  his  great  per- 
sonality. We  have  already  referred  to  Stucki  and 
Baumler.  Another  ought  to  be  added.  If  Stucki  ex- 
celled as  the  dogmatician  and  Baumler  as  the  catechist, 
Hospinian  was  the  historian  of  Zurich  in  that  age. 

Rudolph  Hospinian  was  born  November  7,  1547. 
Educated  at  Zurich,  he  studied  at  Marburg  and  Heidel- 
berg, where  he  received  the  master's  degree.  In  1576 
he  became  rector  of  the  theological  school  at  Zurich — the 
Carolinum.  During  Breitinger's  absence  at  Dort  he  took 
his  place  as  president  of  the  synod.  His  special  field  was 
history  and  polemics.  He  was  the  great  historical  pole- 
mist  against  the  Catholics.  After  many  years  researcr 
he  published  a  number  of  works;  in  1585,  a  work  on  the 
"Origin  of  Christian  Rites";  in  1587,  a  work  on  th# 
Temple;  in  1588,  on  the  Monks;  in  1592,  a  work  or 
Christian  Festivals  and  the  origin  of  rites,  and  in  1619, 
"The  History  of  the  Jesuits,"  all  directed  against  the 
Catholics.  This  led  him  into  controversy  with  Bellar- 
min,  the  great  Catholic  historian.  Professor  Ludbertus, 
of  Holland,  declared  that  among  the  many  polemics 
against  the  Catholics,  none  had  the  influence  of  Hos- 


ZURICH 


31 


pinian.  He  also  wrote  polemical  works  against  the  Lu- 
therans. In  his  "History  of  the  Sacraments"  (1598- 
1603),  he  treated  of  the  controversies  between  the  Lu- 
therans and  Reformed.  And  also  in  his  "Concordia 
Discors"  (1607),  published  after  the  publication  of  the 
Formula  of  Concord  of  the  Lutheran  Church,  he  showed 
that  that  Formula,  instead  of  being  a  formula  of  concord, 
was  a  formula  of  discord  within  the  Lutheran  Church 
and  between  the  Lutherans  and  Reformed.  He  thus  ac- 
quired a  great  reputation  all  over  Protestant  Europe  as 
an  apologist.     He  died  March  11,  1626. 


CHAPTER  II 

Geneva 

The  Genevan  Church,  like  that  of  Zurich,  failed  to 
keep  up  the  succession  of  prominent  men  like  its  re- 
formers, Calvin  and  Beza.  And  yet  she  had  a  continued 
succession  of  able  men.  Her  leading  theologian,  after 
Beza,  was  John  Diodati,  and  with  him  was  associated 
Benedict  Turretin,  the  founder  of  a  line  of  theologians 
for  Geneva  whose  influence  lasted  for  almost  a  century 
and  a  half. 

Section  i 

PROF.   JOHN   DIODATI* 

With  Breitinger,  he  was  the  most  prominent  repre- 
sentative of  Swiss  Protestantism  in  the  age  immediately 
after  the  Reformation.  He  was  descended  from  an 
Italian  refugee  from  Lucca,  Italy,  who  had  fled  to  Geneva 
because  of  his  Protestantism.  He  was  born  there  July 
3,  1576.  He  studied  at  Geneva  under  Beza,  and  made 
such  rapid  progress  that  by  his  nineteenth  year,  he  was 
made  doctor  of  theology.  Beza  had  early  noted  his 
ability,  and  in  1597  wanted  to  turn  over  to  him  the  in- 
struction in  Hebrew.  He  taught  in  Beza's  place  when 
Beza  was  sick  and  aged.  At  the  early  age  of  twenty- 
seven,  in  1603,  he  undertook  the  translation  of  the  Bible 
into  Italian,  and  in  1607  he  presented  to  the  Venerable 
Company  of  Pastorsf  with  his  Italian  version  of  the 

*  See  "Vie  de  Jean  Diodati,"  by  Bude. 

t  This  was  the  body  founded  by  Calvin  that  ruled  the  Church 
of  Geneva. 

32 


GENEVA 


33 


Scriptures,  which  is,  as  we  shall  see,  a  remarkable  trans- 
lation, especially  for  so  young  a  man.  In  1606,  though 
the  Genevese  pastors  desired  him  to  be  ordained,  yet  he 
held  back  because  of  his  sense  of  the  great  responsibility 
of  the  ministry.  He  was  convinced  that  in  order  to  be 
a  spiritual  leader  one  must  have  something  that  neither 
Greek  nor  Hebrew  could  give  him.  But  he  employed 
his  years  before  ordination  well,  for  having  published 
the  Italian  version  of  the  Bible,  he  now  became  active 
in  Italian  evangelization.  Venice,  at  that  time,  seemed 
to  be  falling  away  from  the  papacy.  It  was  then  a  re- 
public, and  had  been  excommunicated  by  the  pope,  and 
the  feeling  against  him  was  very  bitter.  Paul  Sarpi, 
of  Venice,  declared  that  from  two  thousand  to  fifteen 
thousand  persons  were  inclined  to  leave  the  Church  of 
Rome.  It  happened  that  just  at  that  time  England  had 
a  prominent  Protestant  ambassador  at  Venice,  Sir  Henry 
Wotton.  The  latter  invited  Diodati  to  come  to  Venice 
and  evangelize.  Diodati  went  there  under  an  assumed 
name.  But  while  he  found  the  people  violently  opposed 
to  the  pope  politically,  there  was  little  that  was  religious 
in  their  movement  away  from  Rome.  So  he  returned 
to  Geneva,  where  Beza  soon  after  died.  Then  Sir  Henry 
Wotton*  again  wrote  to  him,  urging  him  to  come  to 
Venice,  as  the  way  was  open  for  the  introduction  of 
Protestantism  into  that  republic.  So  he  again  visited 
Venice  in  1608.  There  he  labored,  greatly  aided  by 
Sarpi  and  Wotton.  But  the  assassination  of  King  Henry 
IV  of  France  and  the  recall  of  Wotton  destroyed  the 
hope  of  making  Venice  Protestant,  so  he  returned  to 
Geneva.  Still,  during  his  whole  life,  he  was  deeply  in- 
terested in  the  evangelization  of  Italy.     He  was  called 

*  Sir  Henry  Wotton  was  the  man  of  whom  a  Catholic  asked 

the  question,  "Where   was  your  religion  before   Luther?"     His 

apt  reply  was,  "My  religion  before  Luther  was  where  yours  is 

not  now  to  be  found,  in  the  Word  of  God." 
3 


34 


THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 


as  professor  to  the  theological  seminary  at  Saumur, 
France.  But,  just  then,,  Geneva  was  greatly  threatened 
by  the  neighboring  Duke  of  Savoy.  So  he  was  sent  by 
Geneva  (1611)  among  the  churches  of  France  to  raise 
money  for  her  fortification  and  also  to  gain  military  aid. 
He  was  very  successful,  and  by  his  journey  France  and 
Geneva  were  brought  still  closer  together.  He  so  well 
pleased  the  churches  of  France  that  some  of  them  tried 
to  retain  him  as  their  pastor,  as  Nismes,  which  called  him 
four  times.  But  his  life-work  was  at  Geneva  as  pro- 
fessor of  theology. 

He  appeared  prominently  in  connection  with  the  synod 
of  Dort  (1618-19).  Geneva,  unlike  Zurich  and  the 
German  cantons,  did  not  try  to  avoid  entering  the  con- 
troversy between  the  Calvinists  and  Arminians  in  Hol- 
land, but  had  early  sided  against  the  Arminians.  She 
at  once  appointed  delegates  to  the  synod  at  Dort — Dio- 
dati  and  Tronchin — and  she  gave  them  explicit  instruc- 
tions against  the  Arminians.  They  obeyed  her  instruc- 
tions and  strongly  supported  the  Calvinists  at  the  synod. 
On  March  8,  Diodati  delivered  an  address  before  the 
synod  on  the  doctrine  of  the  perseverance  of  the  saints. 
The  president  of  the  synod  was  so  pleased  with  it  that 
he  declared  it  was  inspired  by  the  Holy  Spirit.  He 
also  read  at  the  synod  the  memorial  of  Du  Moulin,  one 
of  the  French  delegates  (for  France  did  not  permit  the 
delegates  from  the  Huguenot  Church  to  come  to  the 
synod),  which  was  severe  against  the  Arminians.  When 
the  Arminians  were  condemned,  the  Bremen  and  Eng- 
lish delegates  were  against  the  use  of  political  force 
against  the  Arminians,  but  the  Genevese  joined  hands 
strongly  with  the  Dutch  in  advocating  severe  measures 
against  them,  and,  as  a  result,  the  Hollanders  drove  the 
Arminians  into  exile.  It  is  said  he  was  one  of  the  com- 
mittee to  draw  up  the  canons  of  the  synod. 

After  the  synod  he  travelled  through  England  before 


GENEVA  35 

returning  to  Geneva.  It  was  largely  through  his  influ- 
ence and  through  the  sympathy  that  Geneva  had  for  the 
high-Calvinism  of  Holland  as  well  as  the  gratitude  of 
the  Genevese  to  Holland  for  political  and  financial  help 
in  fortifying  and  protecting  their  city  against  the  Duke 
of  Savoy,  that  Geneva  officially  adopted  the  canons  of 
Dort  in  1620,  the  only  Swiss  canton  to  do  so.  He  was 
not  only  professor  of  theology,  but  a  bold  preacher  of 
the  Gospel.  Once  he  threw  a  bomb-shell  into  the  papal 
camp  in  one  of  his  sermons.  Preaching  on  Paul's  words, 
"it  is  not  permitted  a  woman  to  teach  or  to  rule  over 
man,"  he  publicly  declared  that  Pope  Innocent  X  was 
ruled  by  his  mistress,  Olympia.  It  happened  that  the 
papal  nuncio,  who  was  passing  through  Geneva,  was 
present  at  the  service  and  heard  him.  He  carried  the 
news  of  it  to  his  master  at  Rome,  and  it  led  the  pope 
to  put  away  his  mistress.  On  another  occasion,  after 
King  Charles  I  of  England  had  been  put  to  death,  the 
city  council  forbade  any  of  the  pastors  to  make  allusion 
to  it,  as  they  wanted  to  retain  the  friendship  of  England. 
But  Diodati  boldly  declaimed  against  the  murderers  of 
the  king,  and  for  this  was  censured  by  his  city.  He 
continued  teaching  theology  till  1644,  when  he  retired 
on  account  of  ill-health.  He  died  October  13,  1649.  He 
was  severe  in  doctrine,  and  for  his  severity  has  been 
called  the  "Cato  of  Geneva."  But  with  it  all  he  was 
very  kind  and  charitable,  for,  in  the  famine  of  1630,  he 
advanced  large  sums  of  money  to  the  government  for 
the  purchase  of  corn. 

But  his  greatest  work  was  his  fine  translation  of  the 
Bible  into  the  Italian  language  in  1607.  During  his  life- 
time he  prepared  three  editions  of  this  version.  It  is 
remarkable  for  its  faithfulness,  clearness,  elegance  of 
style  and  valuable  notes.  So  excellent  was  it  that  it 
has  continued  in  use  in  Italy  even  down  to  the  present 
time,  though  some  words  in  it  have  become  obsolete.     To 


36  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

not  many  men  is  given  the  honor  of  translating  the 
Bible  into  two  languages,  as  few  are  able  to  translate 
it  into  one  acceptably.  But  Diodati  not  only  translated 
the  Bible  into  Italian,  but  he  also  published  a  transla- 
tion of  it  into  French  in  1644;  but  his  French  translation 
was  inferior  to  his  Italian  version.  Nevertheless,  they 
reveal  his  remarkable  linguistic  skill.  His  French  ver- 
sion has  since  been  superseded  by  Martin's  and,  later, 
by  Osterwald's. 


PART  II 

THE  EFFORTS   TO   INTRODUCE   LUTHERANISM 

CHAPTER  I 
Bern* 

Section  i 

the  megander-bucer  controversy 

The  canton  of  Bern  had  been  Zwinglian  as  long  as 
Berthold  Haller,  its  reformer,  lived.  But  when  he  died 
(1536),  strong  tendencies  toward  Lutheranism  ap- 
peared.! In  place  of  Haller  and  his  assistant,  Kolb, 
there  were  now  elected  Kunz  and  Meyer,  both  favorable 
to  Luther.  Among  the  ministers  of  the  city  of  Bern 
only  Erasmus  Ritter  was  a  Zwinglian.  Bern  did  not 
have  antistes  like  the  other  German  cantons,  but  each 
classis  had  a  dekan,  and  the  dekan  of  the  classis  of  the 
city  of  Bern  was  considered  the  head-dekan  of  the 
Church.  This  position  was  held  by  Ritter.  But  the 
ablest  adherent  of  Zwinglianism  was  Casper  Grossman, 
whose  name  was  Latinized  into  Megander.  He  had  been 
born  at  Zurich,  1495,  and  while  pastor  at  Zurich,  had 

*  See  Hundeshagen  "Die  Conflict  des  Zwinglianismus,  Lu- 
therthums  und  Calvinismus  in  der  Bernischen  Kirche."  Also 
Guder  "Der  Berner  Catechismus,"  in  "Die  Kirche  der  Gegen- 
nart,"  1850. 

f  Indeed,  it  will  be  remembered  that  even  as  early  as  the 
Bern  Conference  (1528)  a  voice  or  two  were  heard  at  the  con- 
ference favoring  Luther. 

37 


38  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

come  to  the  Bern  Conference  (1528),  where  he  was 
known  as  a  prominent  Zwinglian,  and  as  such  he  had 
been  called  to  Bern.  His  friends  called  him  the  Delphic 
oracle,  but  his  enemies  of  the  Lutheran  party  nicknamed 
him  "Zwingli's  monkey  or  ape,"  because  he  so  closely 
imitated  Zwingli.  While  the  city  of  Bern  now  inclined 
toward  Lutheranism,  the  country  pastors  generally  sup- 
ported Megander. 

The  first  outbreak  in  favor  of  Lutheranism  occurred 
in  connection  with  the  Wittenberg  Concord,  published 
1536,  the  compromise  creed  of  Germany  which  even  Lu- 
ther accepted.  An  attempt  was  made  by  the  Lutheran- 
izers,  aided  by  Bucer  and  Capito  of  the  Reformed  of 
Strasburg,  to  get  Bern  to  accept  this  German  creed. 
But  though  Meyer  and  Kunz  urged  it,  the  synod  of  Oc- 
tober, 1536,  refused  to  adopt  it.  Megander  and  Ritter 
then  (May  14,  1537)  denounced  Meyer  for  his  Lutheran 
and  Romish  tendencies  before  the  classes  of  Buren  and 
Thunstetten.  His  case  was  then  carried  up  to  the  Bern 
synod,  which  forbade  any  novelties.  The  council  of  Bern 
was  inclined  to  Lutheranism  because  its  members  wanted 
to  get  into  more  intimacy  with  Germany,  but  the  majority 
of  the  synod  was  the  other  way.  Then  Bucer  wrote 
from  Strasburg  that  he  would  come  to  Bern,  and  he  and 
Capito  arrived  at  Bern  in  September,  1537,  to  aid  the 
efforts  of  the  Lutheranizing  party  in  getting  Bern  to 
adopt,  if  possible,  the  Wittenberg  Concord.  Bucer  made 
an  address  to  the  Bern  synod,  in  which  he  declared  that 
the  great  hinderance  to  union  between  the  Protestant 
churches  was  the  Megander  catechism  with  its  Zwinglian 
doctrine  of  the  Lord's  Supper.  Megander  had,  at  the 
request  of  the  council,  prepared  this  catechism,  which 
closely  followed  Leo  Juda's  catechism.  It  had  been  pub- 
lished in  1536,  and  was  soon  widely  introduced  in  the  can- 
ton. Bucer,  especially  through  the  aid  of  Meyer  and 
Kunz,  quite  won  the  synod  and  the  council.     And  the  lat- 


BERN  39 

ter  ordered  Megander,  together  with  Bucer,  to  modify  the 
statements  of  the  catechism  about  the  Lord's  Supper, 
so  as  to  bring  it  nearer  the  Lutheran  views.  But  Bucer 
did  not  wait  for  Megander  to  do  this.  Without  Megan- 
der's  aid,  he  altered  the  catechism  and  published  this 
modified  catechism,  and  the  council  approved  this  Bucer 
catechism  on  November  6,  1537,  and  ordered  it  to  be 
introduced  in  the  canton.  It  was  but  natural  that 
Megander  should  protest  against  such  a  high-handed  pro- 
ceeding, because  he  felt  it  was  treason  to  the  doctrines 
of  the  old  Bern  church,  which  had  always  followed 
Zwingli.  He,  therefore,  entered  complaint  against  Bu- 
cer's  conduct,  but  Kunz  and  M;eyer  defended  Bucer.  The 
other  Swiss  cantons,  as  Zurich  and  Geneva,  opposed  the 
introduction  of  this  catechism.  Megander,  in  anger,  re- 
signed, and  left  Bern  at  the  end  of  1537  and  went  to 
Zurich,  where  he  became  canon,  and  died  1545. 

The  Bucer  catechism  differed  from  the  Megander 
catechism  mainly  in  its  arrangement  and  on  the  sacra- 
ments.* The  arrangement  of  Megander's  catechism  was, 
decalogue,  creed,  Lord's  Prayer  and  sacraments.  Bucer 
reversed  this,  making  it,  Lord's  Prayer,  creed,  decalogue. 
The  difference  on  the  sacraments  was  also  marked,  es- 
pecially on  the  Lord's  Supper.  Bucer  made  them  more 
than  signs,  he  made  them  grace-bearing.  In  Bucer's, 
baptism  was  the  sign  by  which  we  were  born  again,  and 
in  the  Lord's  Supper  Christ  gives  himself  with  the  bread 
in  invisible  heavenly  ways,  and  the  communicant  received 
the  communion  of  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ. 

*  It  is  quite  difficult  to  say  much  about  this  catechism  of 
Bucer's,  because  the  only  copy  of  it,  which  was  in  the  cantonal 
library  at  Aarau,  has  become  lost  and  could  not  be  found  when 
we  visited  the  library  some  years  ago.  There  was  also  a  French 
translation  of  the  Catechism  made  to  counteract  Calvin's  influ- 
ence in  the  French  part  of  the  canton  of  Bern,  of  which  there 
may  be  a  copy. 


40 


THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 


But  though  the  Bucer  catechism  was  published  under 
the  authority  of  the  council,  there  was  a  great  deal  of 
opposition  to  its  introduction.  The  French  ministers  of 
the-  Vaud  district  in  the  south,  being  Calvinists,  would 
not  receive  it.  The  ministers  of  the  Aargau  district  in 
the  north,  the  district  of  Bern  nearest  Zurich,  and  which, 
therefore,  most  heartily  sympathized  with  Zwingli,  also 
the  classes  of  Buren  and  Nydau,  sent  a  memorial  to  the 
little  council  of  Bern  against  it.  They  objected  to  the 
autocratic  procedure  of  the  government  in  adopting  and 
introducing  it,  and  they  also  objected  to  the  catechism 
because  it  contained  equivocal  phrases  and  ambiguous 
terms  contrary  to  the  teachings  of  the  Bern  conference 
(1528)  and  the  Bern  synod  (1532). 

Finally,  the  council  at  Bern  judged  it  wise  to  compro- 
mise. After  allowing  a  change  in  two  passages,  it  de- 
clared, February  2,  1538,  that  the  Bucer  catechism  did 
not  abrogate  the  Megander  catechism,  but  was  only  an 
interpretation  of  it.  As  a  result,  both  catechisms  could 
be  officially  used,  and  were  so  used  side  by  side.  But 
the  Megander  catechism,  more  and  more,  gained  the 
upper  hand  as  time  rolled  by.  In  1542,  the  council  or- 
dered that  hereafter  the  catechisms  be  interpreted  ac- 
cording to  the  decisions  of  the  Bern  Conference  of  1528. 
This  was  a  blow  at  Lutheranism.  The  two  parties, 
Lutheran  and  Reformed,  continued  to  exist,  especially 
in  the  city  of  Bern,  so  that,  finally,  in  1545,  the  council 
ordered  that  the  sacraments  should  not  be  treated  in 
catechization,  but  should  be  left  for  preaching.  Thus, 
the  Megander  catechism,  and  with  it  the  Reformed  views, 
retained  their  place  in  the  canton. 

When  Megander  and  Rhellican  resigned  on  account 
of  Bucer's  actions,  in  their  places  came  two  Lutherans, 
Thomas  Grynaeus  and  Simon  Sulzer.  Sulzer  was  one 
of  the  ablest  men  that  Bern  had  produced,  for  he  was 
a  Bernese  by  birth.     His  influence  soon  began  to  tell. 


BERN 


41 


He  began,  especially  after  he  became  professor  of  the- 
ology, in  1540,  to  introduce  slight  modifications  of  the 
worship  and  customs  favorable  to  Lutheranism,  as  a 
sort  of  confessional  before  the  communion,  the  holding 
back  of  the  unworthy  from  the  Lord's  Supper,  and  the 
preservation  of  the  elements  of  the  communion  after 
the  Lord's  Supper  as  especially  holy.  He  also  attempted 
to  introduce  lay-baptism  and  the  communion  of  the  sick, 
the  former  a  Lutheran  custom  which  the  Reformed  have 
always  opposed,  and  the  latter  contrary  to  the  universal 
custom  of  the  Bern  church,  even  down  to  the  nineteenth 
century. 

Meanwhile,  the  Lutheran  party  began  to  feel  itself 
so  strong  as  to  become  aggressive.  After  Bucer's  de- 
parture, Kunz  made  an  attack  on  the  use  of  bread  at 
the  Lord's  Supper  instead  of  wafers,  which  had  been 
the  custom  of  the  Bern  church.  Farel  had  been  the 
apostle  of  bread-breaking  as  the  most  farthest  removed 
from  all  superstitious  magic  of  the  wafer.  And  the 
French  churches,  as  in  the  French  district  of  Vaud,  had 
followed  him.  Kunz  gained  sympathy  for  his  views,  for 
the  civil  authorities  of  Bern  had,  all  through  the  reforma- 
tion, opposed  the  Calvinistic  church  government  and  cus- 
toms. For  nowhere  were  Zwingli's  Erastian  views  of  the 
relations  of  Church  and  state  so  fully  developed  as  in  Bern, 
where  not  only  were  church  and  state  united,  but  the 
Church  was  merely  an  arm  of  the  state.  In  giving  up  the 
rule  by  bishops  in  the  reformation,  the  state  had  taken  the 
bishop's  place  and  ruled  with  his  authority.  So  the  Bern 
council,  on  account  of  this  controversy  about  the  the  use 
of  bread,  called  a  synod  at  Lauasanne,  March,  1538.  It 
decided  against  the  introduction  of  bread  into  the  can- 
ton and  so  bread  was  not  introduced  until  1605. 

By  1 541,  Meyer  felt  his  party  was  so  strong  that  he 
began  to  attack  the  Zwinglian  doctrines.  The  matter 
was  brought  before  the  city  council,  but  it  ordered  that 


42  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

nothing  be  preached  contrary  to  the  Bern  Conference 
(1528).  As  a  result,  Meyer,  feeling  that  the  Lutheran 
party  was  losing  ground,  resigned  and  left  (1541).  The 
reaction  against  Lutheranism  now  began  to  get  full 
swing.  While  the  ministers  of  the  city  of  Bern  had  been 
inclined,  with  some  exceptions,  toward  Lutheranism,  the 
country  ministers  now  rose  against  the  Lutheran  inno- 
vations. Ritter,  feeling  their  support,  became  more  ag- 
gressive. The  council  of  Bern  also  changed  and  became 
more  conservative.  Their  eyes  had  been  opened  to  the 
fact  that  the  nearer  they  got  to  Germany,  the  farther  they 
got  from  their  Swiss  neighbors.  And  as  Protestantism  in 
Germany  had  been  weakened  by  the  introduction  of  the 
Interim,  Bern  felt  the  necessity  of  the  Swiss  cantons 
coming  closer  together.  Then  Kunz  died,  February  11, 
1544.  This  left  Sulzer  alone  as  the  leader  of  the  Lu- 
theranizing  party,  though  Grynaeus  still  remained.  In 
the  place  of  Kunz  came  Textor,  a  Zwinglian.  When 
Ritter  died  (1546),  Sulzer  made  a  desperate  effort  to  re- 
coup the  fortunes  of  his  party  by  getting  a  Lutheran 
elected  in  his  place,  but  he  failed.  Kilchmeyer,  a  Zwing- 
lian, was  elected  and  also  made  dekan  or  head  of  the 
Church.  He  caused  an  investigation  of  the  schools  to 
be  made,  which  revealed  that  most  of  the  students  sym- 
pathized with  Lutheranism.  This  brought  matters  to  a 
crisis.  Grynaeus  was  dismissed  (1547),  and  the  next 
year,  Sulzer,  with  his  two  Lutheran  sympathizers,  was 
dismissed.  Thus,  by  1548,  the  Lutheran  movement  came 
to  an  end  and  Bern  returned  to  its  earlier  Zwinglianism 
or,  rather,  advanced  from  that,  as  we  shall  see,  to 
Calvinism. 

Section  2 
the  reorganization  of  the  bern  church 
The  Lutheran  minority  having  disappeared,  the  time 


BERN  43 

had  come  for  the  reorganization  of  the  church  and 
school  of  Bern.  To  do  this  work,  Bern  called  three  men 
— John  Haller,  Wolfang  Musculus  and  Benedict  Aretius. 
John  Haller  was  the  first  legitimate  son  of  a  Bernese 
priest.  He  was  born  January  18,  1525.  His  father, 
for  thus  marrying,  was  compelled  to  flee,  and  went  to 
Zurich,  where  the  son  was  educated.  He  became  pas- 
tor at  Augsburg,  in  Germany,  and  was,  in  1547,  called 
to  Zurich  as  the  helper  of  Bullinger.  He  had  hardly  en- 
tered on  this  position  when  Bern  called  him  to  take  Sul- 
zer's  place.  So  Zurich  loaned  him  to  Bern  for  a  year, 
but  he  stayed  at  Bern  till  his  death  (1575).  He  came 
to  Bern  May  10,  1548.  In  1552,  though  not  yet  twenty- 
seven  years  of  age,  he  was  made  dekan  or  head  of  the 
Bern  Church  in  Kilchmeyer's  place.  In  doctrine  he  was 
a  Zwinglian.  He  was  a  fine  executive,  a  man  of  great 
wisdom  and  common  sense,  a  rare  combination  of  mild- 
ness and  firmness.  He  ruled  the  church  wisely.  He 
introduced  (1569)  singing  into  the  church  services,  for 
Bern,  like  Zurich,  had  entirely  set  aside  singing.  But 
he  had  learned  to  love  music  in  the  church  services  dur- 
ing his  stay  in  Germany.  It  was  due  in  a  large  degree 
to  his  wisdom  that  the  difficulties  between  Calvin  and 
the  Bernese  were  adjusted.     Haller  died  September  2, 

1575. 

His  first  effort  was  to  build  up  the  school  at  Bern, 
which  had  suffered  from  the  recent  theological  contro- 
versies. He  aimed  to  get  men  of  ability  and  reputation 
as  professors.  To  this  end  Wolfgang  Musculus  was  called 
from  Augsburg,  where  he  had  been  the  colleague  of 
Haller.  By  the  introduction  of  the  Interim  in  Germany 
he  had  been  driven  out  of  Augsburg  and  was  glad  to 
come  to  Bern.  Though  a  German  by  birth,  he  fitted  into 
the  Swiss  admirably.  He  came  April  25,  1549.  He 
was  a  fine  exegete.  So  great  was  his  reputation  that 
he  was  called  to  Heidelberg  in  1560,  but  declined.    Haller 


44 


THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 


and  himself  were  so  united  in  friendship  that  both 
had  vowed  to  live  and  die  together.  His  reputation  led 
him,  at  the  suggestion  of  Bucer,  to  be  called  to  Oxford, 
England,  in  1551,  but  he  refused  because  of  Bern's  great 
kindness  to  him  and  his  large  family.  He  also  had  calls 
to  Strasburg  and  Marburg,  but  declined.  The  Bernese 
learned  to  love  him  and  called  him  "venerable  old  man/' 
and  Haller  looked  up  to  him  as  a  father.  When  Haller 
died  he  would  have  been  chosen  dekan,  but  Bern  chose 
only  Bernese  by  birth  for  that  position,  and  Musculus 
was  a  German,  having  been  born  in  Lorraine,  1497.  He 
published  a  work  of  dogmatics  (1554),  which  was  early 
translated  into  English  (1563).  Though  he  had  be- 
longed to  the  mediating  party  in  Germany  that  tried  to 
mediate  between  the  Lutherans  and  Reformed,  yet,  in 
this  work,  he  reveals  himself  as  thoroughly  Reformed 
on  election  and  the  Lord's  Supper.  He  was  the  first 
great  theologian  of  Bern.  He  aided  Haller  in  the  in- 
troduction of  singing,  for  he  had  brought  from  Germany 
his  love  of  music  and  was  the  author  of  some  hymns. 
He  labored  for  the  consolidation  of  the  Church  of  Bern. 
He  died  August  30,  1563. 

Benedict  Aretius,  or,  as  he  was  called  "Marti,"  was 
also  a  Bernese  by  birth,  having  been  born  at  Batter- 
kirchen,  1505.  He  studied  at  Bern  and  then  went  abroad 
to  Strasburg  and  Marburg.  Though  still  young,  he  was 
appointed  professor  of  logic  at  Marburg  University 
(1548).  Bern  called  him  home  that  year,  but  at  his  re- 
quest he  was  permitted  to  stay,  till  1553,  at  Marburg. 
When  he  returned  to  Bern  as  professor  in  the  Latin 
school,  he  found  himself  suspected  of  Lutheran  leanings, 
because  he  had  stayed  so  long  at  a  Lutheran  university 
(for  Marburg  was  then  Lutheran,  though  low  in  its 
Lutheranism,  and  did  not  become  Reformed  until  early 
in  the  next  century).  But  he  revealed  in  his  theological 
teachings  (he  became  professor  of  theology,  1564,  after 


BERN  45 

Musculus'  death),  that  he  was  thoroughly  Reformed. 
Aretius  died  March  22,  1574.  He  was  a  very  learned 
man,  not  only  in  philosophy  and  theology,  but  also  in  the 
sciences,  especially  mathematics,  astronomy  and  botany. 
He  wrote  two  leading  works  on  theology.  The  first  was 
a  compendium  of  theology  (1557)  which  passed  through 
six  editions  in  fourteen  years,  and  in  all  passed  through 
twelve  editions.  His  main  work  was  a  handbook  of  dog- 
matics (1573),  which  passed  through  five  editions  and 
was  influential  in  Reformed  dogmatics.  What  made  them 
so  popular  was  his  clearness  of  thought  and  logical  ar- 
rangement. He  also  gained  fame  as  a  commentator.  Sev- 
eral of  his  commentaries  were  published  by  two  of  his 
students  after  his  death.  These  met  with  such  a  wide  cir- 
culation that  additional  volumes  were  published,  the  last 
one  thirty  years  after  his  death.  They  cover  the  New 
Testament,  Pentateuch  and  Psalms. 

It  was  during  his  professorship  that  Bern  had  its 
Servetus'  case.  John  Valentine  Gentilis  had  been 
driven  out  of  Naples  for  his  heresies.  He  fled  to  Lyons, 
where  he  attacked  Calvin's  doctrine  of  the  trinity.  Then 
he  fled  to  Bern,  where  he  wrote  a  paper  which  he  dedi- 
cated to  a  Bernese  magistrate,  Wurstenberger,  who,  be- 
cause it  compromised  him  with  a  heretic,  became  very 
angry.  Gentilis  went  to  Poland,  but,  after  Calvin's  death, 
thought  it  was  safe  for  him  to  return  to  Switzerland. 
But  he  had  forgotten  Wurstenberger  and,  as  soon  as  he 
entered  the  canton  of  Bern,  he  was  arrested.  He  was 
brought  to  Bern  July  19,  1566.  During  the  long  civil 
process,  Haller,  Aretius  and  Beza,  who  happened  to  be 
in  Bern  at  that  time,  tried  to  lead  him  from  his  heresies, 
but  in  vain.  So  he  was  beheaded  by  the  Bernese  au- 
thorities in  1567.  This  act  of  Bern,  though  contrary  to 
our  ideas  of  religious  liberty  to-day,  was  commended  by 
the  leading  theologians  and  princes  of  different  churches 
and  lands.     But  Bern  seems  to  have  felt  some  criticism 


46  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

against  her  for  this  act,  for  she  appointed  Aretius  to 
write  a  pamphlet  in  its  vindication.  He  did  so  (1567), 
and  in  it  gives  the  life  of  Gentilis,  but  says  compara- 
tively little  in  vindication  of  Bern,  though  he  defends 
the  doctrine  of  the  trinity  against  Gentilis.  The  execu- 
tion of  Servetus  and  Gentilis  were  the  products  of  that 
age  rather  than  of  individual  men.  It  has  taken  the 
world  several  centuries  to  learn  religious  liberty. 

This  whole  period  of  Haller,  Musculus  and  Aretius 
was  not  only  a  reaction  against  Lutheranism,  but  re- 
vealed a  tendency  from  Zwinglianism  up  to  Calvinism. 
Haller  had  prepared  the  way  for  this  by  checking  the 
friction  between  Calvin  and  Bern.  Beza  gained  more 
and  more  influence  in  Bern.  The  increasing  number  of 
French  who  were  settling  in  the  southern  district  of 
Bern,  the  Vaud  district,  increased  the  influence  of  Cal- 
vinism, so  that  we  will  not  be  surprised  to  find  that,  in 
the  next  period,  Bern  has  gone  clear  over  to  high- 
Calvinism. 

Section  3 
the  huber  controversy 

Although  Lutheranism  has  been  crushed  in  Bern,  yet 
a  remaining  remnant  of  it  appeared  in  the  Huber  con- 
troversy. This  was  not  so  much  an  attempt  to  introduce 
Lutheranism  as  a  protest  against  the  growing  tendency 
in  Bern  from  the  lower  Zwinglianism  to  the  higher 
Calvinism. 

The  first  sign  of  it  was  a  controversy  about  the  in- 
troduction of  bread  instead  of  wafers,  in  1581.  The 
southern,  or  Vaud,  district  had  been  using  bread  be- 
cause Calvinistic,  and  some  of  the  congregations  in  the 
Aargau  district  also  used  bread  probably  through  the 
influence  of  neighboring  Zurich.  So  the  Bern  synod, 
led  by  Muslin,  the  son  of  Wolfgang  Musculus,  who  was 


BERN  47 

the  dekan  of  the  Bern  Church,  proposed  to  the  authori- 
ties that  bread  be  used  at  the  communion  instead  of 
wafers,  in  order  that  there  might  be  uniformity  in  the 
churches,  and  also  because  it  was  more  Scriptural  and 
less  open  to  abuse  and  superstition.  Then  it  was  that 
Samuel  Huber,  the  pastor  at  Burgdorf  and  vice-dekan 
of  his  classis,  who  sympathized  with  the  Lutherans  doc- 
trinally,  opposed  it.  And  he  had  influence  enough  so 
that  the  council  decided  that  nothing  new  should  be  in- 
troduced.    So  bread  was  not  introduced  till  1605. 

Huber,  always  watchful  against  the  Calvinists,  then 
took  advantage  of  the  publication  of  a  work  by  Beza, 
in  1580,  about  the  plague.  Beza  took  the  ground  that 
the  segregation  of  the  sick  was  necessary,  and  that  one 
had  a  right  to  flee  from  the  plague.  But  Beza  was 
ahead  of  his  times  in  suggesting  this.  The  book  caused 
a  sensation,  especially  in  Vaud,  as  this  was  looked  upon 
as  going  against  God's  will,  for  He  it  was  who  sent 
the  plague;  and,  besides,  some  of  the  pastors  might  be 
tempted  by  the  book  to  flee  from  their  congregations 
during  the  plague,  just  when  their  services  were  most 
required.  So  Beza,  at  the  advice  of  his  friends,  tried 
to  withdraw  the  book ;  but  this  was  not  possible,  as  some 
copies  had  already  been  sold.  Huber,  who  hated  Beza 
for  his  doctrine  of  predestination,  took  advantage  of  this 
and,  without  asking  permission  of  the  city  authorities, 
he  published  a  severe  attack  on  it  in  1583. 

But  his  best  opportunity  against  the  Calvinists  came 
in  connection  with  the  Conference  at  Montbeliard,  in 
1586.*  The  Duke  of  Montbeliard  was  a  Lutheran,  but 
he  had  married  Anna  Coligny,  who  was  Reformed.  He 
was,  therefore,  anxious  to  bring  the  Lutherans  and  the 

*  Montbeliard  lays  west-northwest  of  Switzerland,  on  the 
borders  of  the  canton  of  Basle.  It  belonged  to  Wurtemberg, 
which  was  Lutheran,  but  had  been  converted  from  Catholicism 
mainly  by  the  Reformed. 


48  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

Reformed  together,  especially  as  he  was  so  surrounded 
by  Catholics.  He,  therefore,  arranged  this  conference 
between  the  Lutherans  and  the  Reformed.  Andrea  and 
Luke  Osiander  appeared  for  the  Lutherans,  and  for  the 
Reformed,  Beza  and  Fay,  from  Geneva;  Muslin  and 
Hubner  (professor  of  Greek),  from  Bern  and  Auberry 
(professor  of  philosophy),  from  Lausanne.  For  four 
days  they  debated  the  doctrine  of  the  Lord's  Supper. 
On  the  fifth  day  Andrea  shrewdly  turned  attention  to 
predestination.  He  hoped  this  doctrine  would  divide  the 
conservative  Swiss,  who  held  to  the  older  ideas  of  the 
reformation  before  predestination  had  become  so  promi- 
nent, from  the  latter  Reformed,  like  Beza,  who  so  em- 
phasized the  doctrine.  As  a  result,  the  conference  broke 
up  without  a  union  of  the  Lutherans  and  Reformed. 
Both  sides  claimed  the  victory  and  published  reports  of 
the  conference.  It  happened  that  a  copy  of  Andrea's 
report  fell  into  the  hands  of  Huber.  It  was  water  on 
his  mill.  Here  was  the  opportunity  long  sought  for  to 
strike  at  both  Beza  and  Muslin.  So  he  published  the 
predestination  views  of  Beza,  putting  them  as  sharply 
as  possible,  so  as  to  stir  up  Bern  against  Muslin.  He 
charged  Muslin  that  he  taught  a  doctrine  new  to  Bern 
and  had  subscribed  to  it  at  Montbeliard.  Huber's  pub- 
lication found  a  favorable  hearing  among  some  of  the 
country  pastors. 

The  Bern  authorities  then  cited  him  to  appear  before 
them  September  17,  1587.  He  there  complained  against 
the  new  doctrine  of  predestination  and  asked  that  he 
would  not  be  forced  to  subscribe  to  this  new  doctrine. 
The  authorities  granted  his  request,  but  asked  him  not 
to  stir  up  the  ministers  any  further  by  his  publications. 
But  he  soon  made  another  charge  against  Muslin  and 
on  November  20,  both  parties  were  cited  to  appear  be- 
fore the  council.  Huber  wanted  to  make  his  complaint 
before  the  council.     Muslin  refused,  as  he  declared  he 


BERN  49 

was  not  prepared  to  answer,  but  he  said  that  if  Huber 
would  put  his  complaints  into  writing  he  would  answer 
in  writing.  To  this  the  council  agreed,  but  both  parties 
were  to  hold  their  peace.  Muslin  laid  his  reply  to  Huber 
before  the  council  on  December  12. 

But  Huber,  a  born  polemist,  could  not  hold  his  peace. 
So  it  was  decided  to  call  together  a  large  and  repre- 
sentative council,  April  15,  1588,  to  decide  the  matter. 
To  this  conference  was  invited  a  prominent  representa- 
tive from  each  of  the  other  three  Evangelical  cantons  of 
Switzerland — Basle,  Zurich  and  Schaffhausen.  Huber 
submitted  a  bill  of  four  complaints,  saying  that  Muslin 
held  limited  atonement  and  election  and  that  the  elect 
could  not  fall  from  grace.  His  charges  were  in  no  ways 
verbally  like  the  doctrines  of  the  council  of  Montbeliard, 
but  he  stated  them  thus  so  as  to  put  predestination  in 
its  most  objectionable  form. 

Muslin  was  not  greatly  embarrassed  by  these  charges. 
It  is  true  predestination  had  not  appeared  in  the  early 
Bern  confessions.  Indeed,  in  those  early  days,  contro- 
versies on  the  subject  had  been  forbidden  in  the  Vaud 
district,  where  Calvin's  doctrines  were  most  closely  fol- 
lowed. But  Muslin  could  say,  as  Calvin  had  once  said, 
that  if  predestination  was  not  mentioned  in  the  Bern 
confession,  there  was  nothing  to  show  that  the  confession 
was  against  it.  He  could  also  call  up  the  earlier  theo- 
logians of  Bern,  Berthold  Haller,  Wolfang  Musculus  and 
Aretius,  in  whose  books  predestination  and  reprobation 
were  plainly  stated;  also  that  since  the  adoption  of  the 
Second  Helvetic  Confession  this  doctrine  had  become 
well-nigh  universal  among  the  Swiss.  And  Beza  and 
himself,  after  their  return  from  Montbeliard,  had  sub- 
mitted their  theological  statements  there  to  the  theological 
professors  at  Basle,  Zurich  and  Heidelberg,  without  a 
word  of  opposition  from  them. 


50  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

The  conference*  met  April  15,  1588,  at  Bern.  Three 
foreign  delegates  were  present,  Antistes  J.  J.  Grynseus, 
from  Basle;  Prof.  J.  W.  Stucki,  from  Zurich,  and 
Antistes  Jezeler,  from  Schaffhausen.  The  delegates 
from  Geneva  to  Montbeliard,  Beza  and  La  Fay,  were 
also  present.  Stucki  came,  bringing  the  judgment  of 
Antistes  Stumpf,  of  Zurich,  that  the  doctrine  of  Beza 
and  Muslin  was  not  new,  but  was  the  old  Reformed  doc- 
trine. Of  the  foreign  delegates  the  most  influential  was 
Antistes  Grynaeus:  (1)  because  he  had  been  born  at 
Bern,  where,  as  we  have  seen,  his  father  had  been  pro- 
fessor, and  had  been  dismissed,  with  Sulzer,  for  his 
Lutheranism,  and  (2)  because  he  had  left  Lutheranism 
for  the  Reformed  faith. 

Of  the  delegates  from  Bern,  two,  Metzger  and  Iselin, 
were  outspoken  for  Huber  and  two  others  sympathized 
with  him  less  openly. 

When  the  conference  opened,  Stucki,  Grynaeus  and 
Jezeler  made  introductory  addresses.  Beza  and  Muslin 
then  declared  that  they  had  not  introduced  new  doc- 
trines at  Montbeliard.  Huber  then  began  to  debate  on 
his  articles  of  complaint.  Here  Beza  interrupted  him 
and  compelled  him  to  admit  that  his  articles  were  not 
word  for  word  the  same  as  those  of  the  Montbeliard 
conference.  Huber  then  tried  to  show  that  Muslin  had 
also  contradicted  himself,  for,  in  a  Christmas  sermon,  he 
had  declared  that  Christ  died  for  all  men,  and  yet,  at 
the  Montbeliard  conference,  he  held  that  Christ  had  died 
only  for  the  elect.  Muslin  arose  to  reply,  when  he  was 
interrupted  by  Huber  in  German.  The  foreign  dele- 
gates, who  were  presiding,  objected  to  this,  as  it  had 
been  agreed  upon,  much  to  Huber's  chagrin,  that  Latin 
and  not  German  was  to  be  the  language  of  the  confer- 

*  For  a  full  account  of  this  conference  see  Berner  "Taschen- 
buch,"  1854,  pages  171-230,  and  Schweitzer's  "Die  Central-Dogmen 
der  reformirten  Kirche,"  Vol.  I,  page  544. 


BERN  51 

ence.  Huber  became  angry  at  their  interruption  and 
complained  to  the  audience  against  them,  declaring  that 
there  was  a  plot  against  him.  Musculus  then  replied  that 
Christ's  death  was  sufficient  for  all  but  efficient  only  for 
the  elect,  and  showed  that  the  Scriptures,  the  Helvetic 
Confession,  the  Bern  liturgy,  the  reformer  Berthold  Hal- 
ler  and  others,  were  against  Huber. 

The  next  day  the  conference  met  again.  Huber  en- 
deavored to  reply  to  Muslin  from  Scripture.  Grynseus 
then  appealed  to  Huber  to  give  arguments  and  not  merely 
opinions.  Huber  appealed  to  the  audience  against  this 
and  said  the  interference  of  the  foreign  delegates  had 
confused  the  disputation.  In  the  afternoon  the  for- 
eign delegates  wanted  to  go  to  the  other  articles. 
Huber,  as  long  as  he  was  on  the  offensive,  revealed 
strength,  but  when  he  was  put  on  the  defensive  he  be- 
came confused,  as  when  Stucki  asked  him  what  he  un- 
derstood to  be  the  Biblical  conception  of  election.  Huber 
then  went  on  to  denounce  Calvin's  doctrine  of  election 
as  a  horrible  blasphemy.  The  foreign  delegates  de- 
manded that  he  take  that  back,  which  he  finally  did 
evasively. 

The  next  day  the  three  foreign  delegates  appeared 
before  the  council  and  declared  that  they  did  not  wish 
to  spend  any  more  time  in  the  disputation  or  be  any 
more  humiliated  by  Huber's  attacks  on  them.  They  de- 
clared that  Huber  had  not  in  any  way  proved  his  first 
charge  against  Muslin.  Their  desire  was  that  a  com- 
promise might  be  reached.  Muslin  and  Beza  both  de- 
clared that  they  were  willing  to  leave  the  matter  in  the 
hands  of  the  foreign  delegates  and,  finally,  even  Huber 
agreed  to  do  so  if  the  authorities  so  desired.  The  for- 
eign delegates  spent  the  whole  of  the  next  day  in  try- 
ing to  bring  about  harmony.  Grynseus  was  especially 
solicitous  for  it,  for  he  had  promised  that  if  unity  could 
be  secured  in  Bern  he  would  get  Basle  to  subscribe  to 


52 


THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 


the  Second  Helvetic  Confession.  They  finally  suggested 
articles  of  agreement,  which  were  adopted  by  the  coun- 
cil, only  Metzger  and  Iselin  voting  against  them.  These 
articles  decided  against  Huber  and  for  Beza  and  Muslin. 
Huber  now  refused  to  submit  to  this  decision.  On  April 
22,  the  foreign  delegates  reported  to  the  council  of  the 
two  hundred,  the  highest  court,  that  Huber's  points  of 
complaint  were  not  those  of  the  Montbeliard  confer- 
ence either  in  word  or  in  meaning,  but  that  Huber  had 
been  led  astray  by  Andrea.  They  declared  that  Beza's 
and  Muslin's  doctrine  was  not  new  in  Bern,  but  had 
been  Berthold  Haller's,  and  was  in  accord  with  that  of 
the  Reformed  Churches  of  Zurich,  Basle,  Schaffhausen 
and  the  Palatinate.  The  council  adopted  the  report. 
But  then  it  disagreed  as  to  Huber's  punishment,  whether 
he  should  be  banished  or  imprisoned,  and,  finally,  only  or- 
dered him  to  keep  silence. 

Before  the  foreign  delegates  left,  they  had  to  decide, 
April  23,  on  the  case  of  Prof.  Claude  Auberry,  professor 
of  philosophy  at  Lausanne,  and  the  third  of  the  dele- 
gates to  Montbeliard.  He  was  charged  with  having  pub- 
lished erroneous  views  on  justification — that  the  right- 
eousness of  God  was  not  reckoned  over  to  us  as  in  justi- 
fication by  faith,  but  was  infused  or  flowed  as  a  new 
quality  into  us.  He  made  sanctification  in  contrast  with 
sin  a  part  of  justification.  But  this  was  more  easily  ad- 
justed than  Huber's  case,  for  Auberry  was  not  a  pole- 
mist  like  Huber  and  subscribed  to  a  formula  prepared  by 
them.  Yet,  five  years  later,  he  was  dismissed  from  Lau- 
sanne for  this  heresy. 

The  foreign  delegates  were  then  dismissed  with  the 
thanks  of  the  conference,  and  they  departed  April  24. 
Huber  also  went  back  to  Burgdorf.  But  he  could  not 
keep  quiet,  especially  as  the  friends  of  Muslin  openly 
declared  their  victory  and  preached  the  doctrines  he 
hated.     So  he  determined  to  state  his  side  of  the  contro- 


BERN  53 

versy.  He  began  to  write  down  the  proceedings  of  the 
conference,  and  to  do  this  he  had  to  employ  an  amanu- 
ensis. The  news  of  this  came  to  Bern,  and  the  authori- 
ties feared  a  new  polemic.  They  feared  he  would  send 
an  account  of  the  Bern  conference  to  Tubingen,  where 
Andrea  could  pervert  its  meaning,  as  they  felt  he  had 
done  the  proceedings  of  the  Montbeliard  conference,  and 
then  publish  it.  So  they  sent  a  councilor  to  Burgdorf, 
June  20,  to  examine  Huber's  papers.  Huber  was  absent, 
but  they  found  nothing.  In  the  evening,  he  brought  two 
sheets  of  his  writing,  but  his  declaration  did  not  agree 
with  that  of  his  amanuensis.  The  authorities  were, 
therefore,  all  the  more  suspicious  of  his  correspondence 
with  Andrea.  So  they  took  his  keys,  searched  his  papers, 
and  arrested  and  brought  him  to  Bern,  June  25.  On 
June  28,  he  had  a  hearing  before  the  council.  He  finally 
found  it  best  to  give  up  the  rest  of  what  he  had  written, 
which  was  found  to  contain  attacks  on  both  the  living 
and  the  dead.  The  council  then  asked  him  whether 
he  was  willing  to  abide  by  the  decision  of  the  late  con- 
ference. He  asked  for  time  to  consider.  But  the  coun- 
cil became  weary  of  waiting  for  him  and,  finally,  decided 
he  must  leave  the  canton  within   fourteen  days. 

Huber,  however,  did  not  wait  that  long.  On  June 
30  he  left,  and  by  July  8  he  had  arrived  at  Tubingen,  in 
Wurtemberg,  and  asked  protection  there.  The  Duke 
of  Wurtemberg  tried,  through  his  ambassador,  to  have 
him  restored  to  Bern,  but  in  vain.  He  subscribed  to 
the  Lutheran  Formula  of  Concord  and  received  a  par- 
ish near  Tubingen,  where  he  published  the  proceedings 
of  the  Bern  conference  and  made  it  appear  that  both 
the  conference  and  the  council  had  declared  that  An- 
drea's publication  of  the  Montbeliard  Conference  was 
false.  Andrea,  therefore,  took  the  matter  up,  and  an 
embassy  was  sent  to  Bern  to  complain  against  such  a 
slander.     The  embassy  consisted  of  Andrea  and  three 


54 


THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 


political  ambassadors.  On  September  5,  1588,  they  met 
the  council  at  Bern.  They  suggested  a  conference  of 
the  Reformed  and  the  Lutherans  to  compare  the  two 
published  acts  of  Montbeliard  and  consider  the  points 
at  issue.  Lindau  was  selected  as  the  place,  but  the 
plague  broke  out  there.  In  the  meanwhile  Bern  had 
sounded  the  other  Evangelical  cantons  whether  they 
would  go  into  such  a  conference.  Basle  and  Schaffhausen 
refused,  because  they  were  weary  of  the  controversy. 
Then  Andrea  wanted  to  have  the  conference  with  Bern 
alone.  But  Bern  refused  to  separate  herself  from  the 
other  cantons,  and  declined,  glad  to  get  rid  of  the  trou- 
blesome case. 

During  these  negotiations  Huber  was  quiet.  But 
soon  his  polemical  nature  rose  again  and  he  wrote  a 
Latin  work,  dedicated  to  the  Bern  council,  and  sent  it 
to  them.  In  it  he  especially  attacked  Grynseus  and  the 
foreign  delegates  for  their  support  of  Beza  and  Muslin. 
His  attack  angered  the  Swiss,  and  the  matter  was  brought 
before  their  Evangelical  Diet  (1594).  Bern  was  or- 
dered to  reply.  And  Muslin  prepared  the  reply,  giv- 
ing a  full  account  of  the  whole  process  against  Huber, 
ending  it  with  a  quotation  from  Luther  on  determinism 
which,  of  course,  was  against  Huber.  Then  Wurtem- 
berg  again  urged  a  conference.  But  Zurich  declared 
it  unnecessary,  as  Muslin  was  dead,  and  Huber  was  not 
worthy  of  an  answer. 

But  Huber's  polemical  nature  soon  brought  him  into 
controversy  with  the  Lutherans  as  it  had  done  with  the 
Reformed.  He  found  them  at  Tubingen  not  universal- 
istic  enough,  and  he  charged  them  with  holding  a  sort 
of  predestination.  Then  he  was  called  to  Saxony  (1592), 
which  was  just  recovering  from  its  tendency  to  Crypto- 
Calvinism.  And  he  was  looked  upon  as  just  the  man 
for  the  time,  because  he  had  had  experience  in  attack- 
ing the  Reformed.     But  there  he  got  into  controversy 


BERN  55 

with  Professor  Leyser  about  baptism  and  election,  and 
was  dismissed  and  banished,  1595.  He  became  a  wan- 
derer and  died  1624. 

Thus,  Bern,  after  having  passed  through  an  era  of 
Lutheranizing,  finally  landed  in  strict  Calvinism.  This 
conference  at  Bern  finally  committed  her  to  it.  One 
would  hardly  have  thought  that  Calvin,  against  whose 
views  Bern  had  so  strongly  protested  in  the  early  reforma- 
tion would  thus  become  supreme  at  Bern.  But  it  was 
only  in  doctrine  that  Calvin  triumphed  and  not  in  church 
government,  for  Bern  remained  Erastian,  the  church  be- 
ing only  an  arm  of  the  state. 

Section  4 
the  district  of  vaud 

In  this  district  there  were  no  tendencies  toward  Lu- 
theranism  but  rather  to  Calvinism,  for  it  was  French  in 
language.  Yet  this  district  needs  to  be  noted  as  a  bul- 
wark against  Lutheranism.  The  Academy  at  Lausanne, 
opened  (1540)  under  Viret,  had  flourished  under  Beza. 
When  he  left  (1558)  it  almost  collapsed.  The  Bern 
authorities  tried  hard  to  bring  it  up  again  as  by  the 
calling  of  prominent  professors  from  abroad  as  Hyperius, 
from  Marburg,  and  Ursinus,  from  Heidelberg,  but  they 
failed.  It,  however,  continued  its  work  quietly,  but  it 
was  not  until  the  end  of  the  sixteenth  century  that  it 
had  a  professor  prominent  enough  to  deserve  mention. 

William  Bucanus  was  of  French  origin,  but  was 
early  called  to  Switzerland.  He  became  pastor  at  Yver- 
don,  in  Vaud,  in  1572.  In  1591,  he  was  called  as  pro- 
fessor of  theology  at  Lausanne.  At  that  time,  as  we 
have  already  noted  at  the  Bern  Conference,  the 
Academy  had  been  greatly  agitated  by  a  controversy 
about  justification  and  sanctification,  between  Professors 
Aubrey  and  Lescaille.     Bucanus  was  a  strong  Calvinist. 


56  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

He  was  learned  and  exact  in  his  statements ;  but  there 
was  not  much  originality  about  him.  Still  his  dogmatics 
(published  1602)  gave  him  fame  and  exerted  consider- 
able influence.  It  was  early  translated  into  English.  A 
curious  event  came  out  of  this  work.  It  was  publicly 
burned  both  at  Oxford  and  London.  For  it  seemed  a 
young  theologian  of  London,  named  Knight,  had  quoted 
from  it  in  a  public  address  to  prove  that,  in  time  of  dan- 
ger, citizens  were  justified  in  taking  up  arms,  even 
against  their  ruler.  Knight,  when  arrested,  referred  to 
the  works  of  Pareus  and  Junius,  together  with  Bucanus' 
dogmatics.*  So  all  the  extant  copies  of  Bucanus  in  Eng- 
land were  destroyed.  There  does  not  seem  to  be  any- 
thing dangerous  in  the  book,  and  only  an  unusual  occur- 
ence like  this  would  have  led  to  such  a  result.  Bucanus 
died  of  apoplexy,  August  16,  1603. 

*  He  referred  to  pages  788-89  of  the  dogmatics. 


CHAPTER  II 

Basle 

Basle  followed  Bern  in  inclining  toward  Lutheranism. 
The  successor  of  the  first  antistes,  Ecolampadius  (who 
died  1531),  was  Oswald  Myconius  (1531-52).  He  gave 
Basle  her  first  confession,  the  First  Helvetic  Confession. 
He  was  suspected  by  some  of  leanings  toward  Luther- 
anism, but  he  seems  to  have  been  Reformed,  though 
liberal  in  his  views.  Still,  in  the  strife  between  creeds 
and  about  the  Lord's  Supper,  he  generally  took  a  some- 
what mediating  position.  This  is  shown  in  the  Second 
Basle  or  First  Helvetic  Confession,  which  was  drawn 
up  by  Bullinger,  Leo  Juda  and  himself  (1536).  When 
the  Tigurine  Confession  was  adopted  (1549),  which 
bound  Zurich  and  Geneva  together  on  the  Lord's  Sup- 
per, he  complained  that  Basle  had  not  been  consulted. 
When  the  Second  Helvetic  Confession  was  adopted  by 
the  Swiss,  Basle  was  the  only  church  that  held  out 
against  it,  holding  only  to  the  First  Helvetic  Confession. 
When  Myconius  died,  Ambrose  Blaarer,  who  had  been 
the  reformer  of  Constance,  but  then  living  at  Biel,  was 
elected  antistes.     When  he  declined  Sulzer  was  chosen. 

Section  i 
antistes  simon  sulzer  (l553~85)* 
We  have  already  noted  Sulzer's  tendency  to  Luther- 

*  See  Hagenbach  "Kritische  Geschichte  der  Entstehung  und 
der  Schicksale  der  ersten  Basler  Confession,"  Basle,  1827,  pages 
87-137;  also  Linder  "Simon  Sulzer,"  1890. 

57 


58  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

anism  at  Bern.  He  was  born  September  23,  1508,  near 
Interlaken,  in  Bern.  His  father  dying,  he  had  to  give 
up  study  and  become  a  barber's  apprentice.  But 
Berthold  Haller  noticed  his  abilities  and  recommended 
him  to  the  Bern  Church  for  support.  Sulzer  studied  at 
Basle  and  then  at  Strasburg,  where  he  proved  an  apt 
scholar  of  the  unionist  Bucer,  only  he  carried  his  prin- 
ciples farther  by  becoming  a  unionist  with  distinctively 
Lutheran  leanings.  This  tendency  was  strengthened  by 
a  visit  he  made  (1536-38)  to  Wittenberg,  where  he  met 
Luther,  whose  personality  greatly  impressed  him.  He 
returned  to  Bern,  1538,  and  remained  there  ten  years, 
until  compelled  to  resign  because  of  his  Lutheranism. 
He  then  went  to  Basle,  where  he  became  (1549)  pastor 
of  St.  Peter's  Church  and  (1552)  professor  of  the  Old 
Testament.*  In  1554,  he  was  transferred  to  the  New 
Testament,  but,  after  he  became  antistes,  he  returned 
to  the  Old  Testament  (1575).  His  recognized  ability 
led  him  to  be  elected  antistes  in  1553. 

As  antistes  he  early  began  revealing  Lutheran  ten- 
dencies, just  as  he  had  done  at  Bern.  He  tried  to  in- 
troduce the  Lutheran  confessional  before  the  Lord's 
Supper  instead  of  the  preparatory  service  of  the  Re- 
formed. He  also  urged  the  excommunication  or  hold- 
ing back  of  the  unworthy  from  the  Lord's  table,  and 
treated  the  unused  elements  of  the  communion  as  spe- 
cially holy,  which  was  contrary  to  Reformed  ideas. 
Still  he  aimed  to  be  circumspect  and  discreet  in  doing 
all  this.  He  was  in  close  correspondence  with  the 
leaders  of  the  Lutheran  Church,  as  Andrea,  of  Wurtem- 
berg,  and  Marbach,  of  Strasburg.  He  tried  to  bring  in 
Lutheranism    by    weakening   the    Reformed    position    in 

*  At  the  Basle  University  there  were  originally  only  two 
professors  of  theology,  one  of  the  Old  Testament,  the  other  of 
the  New.  The  occupant  of  the  first  was  generally  promoted  to 
the  second  when  there  was  a  vacancy. 


BASLE  59 

Basle.  Strong  influences  had  been  brought  to  bear  on 
Basle  to  get  it  to  adopt  the  Second  Helvetic  Confession. 
But  Sulzer  felt  that  the  adoption  of  that  confession 
would  be  another  tie  binding  Basle  to  the  Reformed,  and 
so  opposed  it,  giving  as  a  reason  that  Basle  already  had 
her  own  confession,  the  Second  Basle  or  First  Helvetic, 
with  which  she  was  satisfied  and  she  did  not,  therefore, 
need  another  creed.  He  not  only  weakened  the  Re- 
formed position  there  by  thus  opposing  the  Second  Hel- 
vetic Confession,  but  he  tried  to  weaken  the  Basle  Con- 
fession itself.  This  First  Helvetic  Confession  had  been 
published  with  marginal  notes  which  gave  it  a  more 
distinctly  Reformed  significance.  In  the  reprinting  of 
that  confession,  he  caused  the  marginal  notes  to  be 
omitted,  because  they  were  decidedly  against  the  Lu- 
theran doctrine  of  the  presence  of  Christ's  body  at  the 
Lord's  Supper.  He  then  went  farther  and  claimed  that 
this  Basle  confession  agreed  virtually  with  the  Augs- 
burg Confession  of  the  Lutherans.  Seeing,  as  he  did, 
no  difference  between  them,  he,  the  antistes  of  Reformed 
Basle,  also  became  the  superintendent  of  the  Lutheran 
Church  of  neighboring  Baden,  in  1556,  hoping  thus 
he  might  the  more  readily  bring  about  a  union  of  the 
two  churches. 

Gradually  he  introduced  more  and  more  of  Lutheran- 
ism  into  Basle.  Thus  he  introduced  lay-baptism,  a  dis- 
tinctively Lutheran  custom  and  not  at  all  Reformed. 
He  also  introduced  communion  of  the  sick,  which  many 
of  the  Reformed,  especially  in  Switzerland,  opposed  at 
that  time.  On  Palm  Sunday,  1558,  he  introduced  four- 
part  music  in  the  cathedral  at  Passion  week  and  had 
the  organ  played,  assisted  by  flute  and  kettle-drum.  All 
this  was  regarded  with  suspicion  by  the  Reformed.  For, 
although  Basle  had,  unlike  Zurich,  kept  up  singing  since 
the  reformation,  four-part  music  instead  of  singing  in 
one  part  was  an  innovation,  as  was  the  use  of  the  organ, 


60  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

which  had  been  closed  up  to  that  time.  On  high  fes- 
tival days,  he  had  the  people  called  together  by  a  bell 
called  "the  pope's  bell,"  which  had  been  given  to  the 
city  by  Pope  Felix  I,  and  had  always  been  regarded  as 
a  papal  relic.  In  these  Lutheran  innovations  he  did  not 
stand  alone,  but  was  supported  by  Fuglin,  pastor  of  St. 
Leonard's  Church,  and  by  his  brother-in-law,  Koch,  pas- 
tor of  St.  Peter's.  Indeed,  the  greater  part  of  the 
clergy  of  the  city  of  Basle*  sympathized  with  Sulzer. 
In  those  days  it  was  not  customary  to  print  Lutheran 
books  in  Reformed  cities  or  vice  versa,  but  he  allowed 
the  Augsburg  Confession  to  be  published  at  Basle  in 
1567.  Still,  such  radical  changes  must,  sooner  or  later, 
cause  a  breach,  and  this  crisis  came  in  1571,  when  the 
Basle  Church  was  on  the  point  of  going  over  to 
Lutheranism. 

Two  men  rose  to  prevent  this,  Erzberger  and  Brand- 
muller.  Erzberger  was  one  of  the  youngest  ministers, 
only  the  third  assistant  at  St.  Elizabeth's  Church;  but 
Brandmuller,  pastor  of  St.  Theodore's  Church,  was 
older  and  had  influence  in  the  city.  Erzberger  began 
the  controversy  in  a  sermon  on  Christmas  (1570),  when 
he  openly  attacked  the  introduction  of  the  Lutheran  doc- 
trines and  customs  and  closed  with  an  eloquent  appeal, 
thus:  "O  Ecolampadius,  did  your  teaching  live  in 
our  pulpits  and  hearts  as  your  pictures  live  in  the  dance 
of  death,f  how  earnestly  would  I  then  preach.  But  in 
vain  do  I  wish  it.  I  fear  we  will  soon  sing  another 
tune."  For  this  the  head  minister  of  his  church,  Koch, 
called  him  before  him  that  same  day,  and  the  next  day 

*  Basle  had  two  districts,  Basle-city  and  Basle-land. 

t  There  is  a  famous  painting  at  Basle  called  the  "Dance  of 
Death,"  in  which  death  is  represented  as  coming  to  all  classes  of 
men  from  the  pope  down.  It  has  been  supposed  to  reveal  Prot- 
estant tendencies,  and  if  so,  the  Protestant  teachings  of  Ecolam- 
padius might  be  said  to  be  living  in  it. 


BASLE  61 

the  deputies  of  the  city  did  so.  Three  days  later  the 
upper  council,  the  council  of  thirteen,  took  up  the  mat- 
ter. He  boldly  defended  himself,  and  in  it  was  se- 
conded by  Brandmuller. 

Thus  the  year  1570  closed,  but  not  so  the  strife.  On 
January  4,  1571,  the  city  council  met,  and  Erzberger 
was  again  examined.  He  stated  that  he  agreed  to  the 
Basle  Confession  and  liturgy.  Sulzer,  Koch  and  Fuglin 
spoke  amicable  words,  but  charged  Erzberger  with  being 
the  cause  of  all  the  strife.  As  a  result,  all  the  ministers 
were  called  together,  January  9,  and  asked  if  they  were 
true  to  the  Basle  confession.  All  replied  in  the  affirma- 
tive. But,  at  this  time,  Brandmuller  boldly  took  up 
Erzberger's  case.  He  explained  the  old  historic  mean- 
ing of  the  Basle  Confession  and  showed  how  it  was 
misused  by  the  efforts  to  introduce  Lutheranism. 

Meanwhile  Sulzer  had  been  influencing  the  council 
to  get  the  ministers  to  subscribe  to  the  Wittenberg  Con- 
cord of  1536,  that  compromise  creed  between  the  Lu- 
therans and  Reformed.  He  thus  hoped  to  prepare  the 
way  for  the  full  introduction  of  Lutheranism  later.  On 
February  1,  1571,  the  ministers  were  called  together  and 
asked  if  they  would  subscribe  to  this  Wittenberg  Con- 
cord. Brandmuller  was  the  only  one  who  refused.  In 
his  refusal,  given  in  writing,  he  said  he  did  not  reject 
the  Wittenberg  Concord,  but  he  preferred  the  old  Con- 
fession of  Basle.  He  expressed  fear  that  if  the  Witten- 
berg Concord  were  once  introduced,  the  next  step  would 
be  the  introduction  of  the  Augsburg  Confession  of  the 
Lutherans.  The  council  decided  that,  on  February  19, 
the  Wittenberg  Concord  should  be  accepted  by  the  min- 
isters. Strange  to  say,  on  that  day  there  was  an  earth- 
quake. Earthquakes  and  comets,  in  those  days,  were 
considered  portentous  signs,  and  the  members  of  the 
council,  alarmed,  asked,  "What  does  this  mean  ?"  On  Feb- 
ruary 21,  all  the  ministers,  except  Erzberger  and  Brand- 


62  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

muller,  appeared  before  the  city  council,  the  former  hav- 
ing been  forbidden  to  preach.  They  gave  their  sub- 
scription to  the  Wittenberg  Concord  as  well  as  the  Basle 
Confession.  Brandmuller  was  then  called  before  the 
council,  March  I.  They  toned  down  the  meaning  of  the 
subscription  to  him  by  saying  that  if  he  subscribed  he 
would  not  be  bound  by  it,  but  only  by  the  Basle  con- 
fession as  before.  So  he  finally  was  induced  to  sign  it. 
Erzberger,  however,  stood  out.  It  now  became  evident 
that  he  must  do  one  of  two  things — either  subscribe  or 
lose  his  place.  He  was  finally  dismissed,  went  to  Paris 
to  study,  but  fled  after  the  massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew, 
to  Miihlhausen,  then  in  canton  of  Basle,  where  he  became 
pastor  and  published  (1575)  his  views  on  the  Lord's 
Supper.  He  then  returned  to  Basle  and  died  there  1576, 
before  he  was  thirty  years  old.  His  life  was  short, 
but  he  saved  Basle  to  the  Reformed.* 

The  city  ministers  having  subscribed  the  Wittenberg 
Concord,  now  came  the  turn  of  the  country  ministers 
of  Basle-land.  But  while  the  city  ministers  subscribed, 
the  country  ministers  emphatically  declared  that  they 
did  not  want  the  Wittenberg  Concord.  On  March  15, 
1571,  the  deputies  of  Basle  went  to  their  synod  at  Lies- 
thai.  But  the  country  ministers  refused  to  sign  be- 
cause, they  said,  they  were  satisfied  with  the  Basle  Con- 
fession. Finally,  nine  of  them  were  constrained  to  sign, 
and  that  influenced  the  rest  so  that  all  but  four  signed. 
One  of  these  signed  and  the  remaining  three,  when  they 
came  to  the  city  and  found  that  they  could  not  fight  it 
out  alone,  signed,  too,  under  force  of  circumstances. 
Sulzer  now  seemed  to  have  everything  his  own  way.  He 
now  openly  declared  for  the  Lutheran  doctrine  of  the 
Lord's   Supper.     He  wrote  to   Marbach,  of   Strasburg, 

*  He  also  prevented  Miihlhausen  from  accepting  the  Lutheran 
Formula  of  Concord. 


BASLE  63 

that  he  expected  to  take  a  step  farther  than  the  Witten- 
berg Concord.  He  was  evidently  prepared  to  introduce 
the  new  creed  of  the  Lutherans  that  was  being  prepared 
— the  Formula  of  Concord.  So  hopeful  was  he  that 
when  Bullinger  died  (1575),  he  said,  "The  pillar  of 
Zwingli  has  now  fallen,"  and  he,  therefore,  expected  an 
easier  victory  for  Lutheranism  in  Switzerland  because 
of  Bullinger's  death. 

But  though  he  hoped  so  much,  all  his  hopes  went 
to  the  winds.  For  when  the  Formula  of  Concord  was 
published  (1580),  the  city  authorities  appointed  a  com- 
mittee to  express  a  judgment  on  it.  Among  the  three 
appointed  Sulzer  was  not  named,  perhaps  because  he 
was  old  and  sick.  The  truth  was  that  the  extreme  state- 
ments of  the  Formula  of  Concord  and  its  excommunica- 
tion of  the  Reformed  had  turned  Basle  against  it.  And 
also  a  new  leader  had  arisen  in  the  Basle  Church,  in 
Grynaeus,  who  was  Reformed.  So  the  synod  of  1581, 
under  the  leadership  of  Grynaeus,  forbade  subscription 
to  the  Formula  of  Concord.  Sulzer  had  outlived  his 
hopes.  He  had  to  be  content  to  use  the  Formula  of 
Concord  only  in  his  own  family  and  with  his  servants. 
He  died  June  22,  1585,  and  with  him  Lutheranism  died 
in  Basle.     The  Formula  of  Concord  killed  it. 

We  have  looked  at  his  character  mainly  as  a  pole- 
mist;  yet  there  was  a  kindlier  side.  He  did  much  for 
the  refugees  who  came  to  Switzerland,  among  them 
Horn,  Bishop  of  Winchester,  who  wrote  him  a  letter 
of  thanks.  He  was  very  kind  to  the  Italian  refugees 
from  Locarno,  of  whom  nearly  a  hundred  settled  in 
Basle.  He  also  was  energetic  against  the  Catholics,  who, 
in  Basle-land,  were  aggressive.  He  was  a  scholarly  man, 
and  once  published  a  dogmatics  based  on  the  articles 
of  the  Bern  synod  in  1532. 


64  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

Section  2 

antistes  john  jacob  gryn^us  (1585-1618) 

The  Basle  Church  had,  at  last,  become  alarmed  at  the 
position  into  which  it  had  been  incautiously  led  by  Sul- 
zer.  The  man  to  swing  it  back  to  its  old  Reformed 
moorings  was  the  next  antistes.  John  Jacob  Grynaeus 
was  born  at  Bern,  October  I,  1540.  When  he  was  six 
years  of  age  his  father  was  dismissed  from  Bern  be- 
cause of  his  Lutheranism  and  went  to  Basle.  There  the 
son  studied  under  Sulzer,  and  so  became  Lutheran  in 
his  views.  He  began  his  ministry  as  assistant  to  his 
father,  at  Roteln,  in  the  Lutheran  Church  of  Baden. 
It  happened  that  there  was  a  religious  disputation  at 
the  castle  of  Roteln,  where  he  so  won  the  favor  of  the 
Margrave  of  Baden,  that  the  latter  gave  him  one  hun- 
dred florins  to  continue  his  studies.  So  he  went  to 
Tubingen  (1563),  and  studied  under  Andrea,  after  which 
he  returned  as  his  father's  successor  at  Roteln.  So 
thoroughly  educated  in  the  Lutheran  Church,  he  was  the 
last  man  who  would  be  expected  to  go  over  to  the  Re- 
formed. Yet,  in  1573,  two  years  before  he  left  Roteln, 
he  became  satisfied  that  the  Lutheran  doctrine  of  ubiquity 
was  untenable.  Why  he  changed  to  the  Reformed  is  a 
question.  Hottinger  says  it  was  due  to  the  influence 
of  his  brother-in-law,  Erastus,  who  was  Reformed. 
Others  say  it  was  due  to  a  more  careful  study  of  the 
Church  Fathers.  In  1575,  he  was  called  to  Basle 
to  take  Sulzer's  place  as  professor  of  Old  Testament. 
He  there  tried  to  prevent  the  introduction  of  the  new 
Lutheran  creed — the  Formula  of  Concord.  To  escape 
the  opposition  of  Sulzer  he  went  to  Heidelberg  (1584) 
at  the  request  of  Count  John  Casimir  of  the  Palatinate,  to 
aid  in  restoring  that  university,  which  had  declined  un- 
der the  Lutheran  reign  of  the  deceased  Elector  Lewis,  to 
its  former  position  in  the  Reformed  Church.    He  wanted 


BASLE  65 

to  stay  at  Heidelberg,  but  was  given  to  understand  by 
Basle,  that  if  he  returned  he  would  be  elected  the  next 
antistes.  So  he  returned  (1586)  as  professor  of  New 
Testament  and  soon  after  was  elected  antistes.  He  had 
hardly  entered  the  antistes'  chair  when  he  was  hurried 
off  to  the  Huber  conference,  as  we  have  seen. 

Grynaeus'  great  aim  was  to  restore  the  Basle  Con- 
fession to  its  original  high  position  in  the  Church  and 
to  bring  that  Church  back  to  full  fellowship  with  the 
Reformed.  He  had  reprinted  (1590)  a  new  edition 
of  the  Basle  Confession  which  contained  its  original 
marginal  notes  omitted  by  Sulzer.  Although  he  had 
not  then  been  able  to  get  the  Basle  Church  to  go  as  far 
as  to  adopt  the  Second  Helvetic  Confession,  yet,  in  the 
preface  to  this  edition  of  the  Basle  Confession,  it  was  as- 
serted that  that  confession  entirely  agreed  with  the  Se- 
cond Helvetic  Confession. 

His  greatest  act  was  the  adoption  of  the  Second 
Helvetic  Confession  by  the  Basle  synod.  This  occurred 
at  the  synod,  March  23-24,  1598,  at  Liesthal.  There  Gry- 
naeus and  Polanus  explained  the  doctrinal  position  of  that 
confession.  The  doctrine  of  the  Lord's  Supper  caused 
some  discussion,  in  which  Grynaeus  publicly  acknowl- 
edged his  previous  error  in  holding  the  Lutheran  view 
and  his  reasons  for  accepting  the  Reformed.  Only  one 
minister  clung  to  ubiquity,  Gugger,  but  he  later  gave  up 
his  adherence  to  the  Formula  of  Concord.  So  the  synod 
adopted  the  Second  Helvetic  Confession,  and  Reformed 
doctrines  became  victorious  at  Basle.  At  the  next 
synod,  1599,  it  was  evident  that  quiet  was  restored  to 
the  Basle  Church  after  a  controversy  of  over  a  quarter 
of  a  century.  However,  it  is  not  exactly  correct  to  say 
that  Basle  adopted  the  Second  Helvetic  Confession  un- 
der Grynaeus,  in  1598.  The  proper  statement  is,  that 
the  synod  adopted  that  confession  then,  but  the  council 
of    Basle  did   not   adopt   it   until   later,   under   antistes 


66  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

Zwinger. 

Grynaeus  was  so  highly  honored  by  his  canton  that 
he  was  frequently  sent  on  foreign  deputations.  On  one 
occasion  he  was  sent  as  the  representative  of  all  the 
Protestant  cantons  of  Switzerland  to  the  coronation  of 
Elector  Frederick  IV  of  the  Palatinate.  Five  years  be- 
fore he  died  he  became  blind.  He  died  August  13,  1617. 
His  tomb  has  the  beautiful  inscription :  "Simple  of  heart, 
sincere  in  doctrine  and  of  integrity  of  character." 

Section  3 

prof.  amandus  polanus 

In  connection  with  Grynaeus,  another  man  looms  up 
at  Basle.  Amandus  Polanus  was  one  of  the  most  promi- 
nent of  the  Reformed  theologians  of  the  age  just  after 
the  reformation.  He  was  east-German  by  birth,  hav- 
ing been  born  at  Polansdorf,  in  Silesia,  December  16, 
1561.  He  studied  at  Breslau  and  Tubingen.  But,  at 
the  gymnasium  at  Breslau,  he  had  as  teacher  a  Melanc- 
thonian,  so  he  became  low-Lutheran,  especially  through 
the  study  of  Romans,  Chapter  IX.  Like  Grynaeus,  he  left 
Lutheranism  for  the  Reformed,  but  the  objection  of 
Grynaeus  was  against  the  Lutheran  doctrine  of  ubiquity 
and  the  Lord's  Supper,  while  the  objection  of  Polanus 
was  to  the  Lutheran  doctrine  about  election.  Even 
while  at  Tubingen  he  criticized  Andrea's  views  of  uni- 
versal grace,  as  he,  like  the  Reformed,  held  to  particu- 
lar grace.  So  he  left  Tubingen,  1583,  and  came  to  Basle. 
Then  he  went  to  Geneva,  where  he  conceived  the  high- 
est regard  for  Beza  and  called  him  the  "Irenaeus  of  that 
century."  He  returned  to  Basle  (1590),  and  received 
the  degree  of  doctor  from  the  university  there.  He  then 
went  among  the  Bohemian  Brethren  for  two  years,  and 
returned  to  Basle  as  private  tutor  in  a  noble  family.  In 
1596  he  was  elected  in  Brandmuller's  place  as  professor  of 


BASLE  67 

the  Old  Testament.  He  was  the  author  of  a  new  transla- 
tion of  the  Bible,  which  gave  him  considerable  fame. 
In  1606  the  Landgrave  of  Hesse  tried  to  win  him  for 
Marburg  University,  when  he  was  changing  that  uni- 
versity from  Lutheranism  to  the  Reformed ;  but  Polanus 
refused.     He  died  July  17,   1610,  of  the  plague. 

Polanus  excelled  both  in  philosophy  and  theology. 
He  was  professor  of  theology  at  a  critical  time  for 
Basle  just  as  she  was  again  arraying  herself  fully  on 
the  Calvinistic  side.  He  was,  therefore,  called  upon  to 
defend  strict  Calvinism,  and,  in  doing  so,  gave  some  of- 
fense to  the  milder  Calvinists  of  Basle.  Indeed,  a  ru- 
mor spread  abroad  than  Polanus  and  the  professors 
at  the  university  taught  doctrines  which  they  would  not 
dare  preach  in  their  pulpits.  He,  therefore,  was  led  to 
publish  a  defence  in  1610.  For  his  Calvinism  he  ap- 
pealed to  Beza,  who  supported  him  in  his  positions.  Of 
course,  Beza  could  do  so,  for  he  was  the  highest 
kind  of  a  Calvinist.  But  Polanus  also  appealed  to  Lu- 
ther, who,  in  his  work  against  Erasmus,  taught  deter- 
minism, and  philosophical  determinism  and  theological 
predestination  were  about  the  same.  Polanus  showed 
that,  in  his  day,  they  were  considered  the  best  Lutherans 
who  most  departed  in  this  doctrine  from  Luther.  He, 
however,  denied  that  the  professors  taught  anything  they 
could  not  preach.  He  claimed  that  he  taught  predesti- 
nation as  contained  in  the  first  article  of  the  Basle  Con- 
fession. He  thus  logically  followed  Calvin,  but  without 
Calvin's  originality.  Indeed,  he  has  been  charged  with 
bringing  in  an  era  of  scholastic  Calvinism,  although  that 
charge  was  made  against  Peter  Martyr  before  him,  and 
also  against  Szegedin,  of  the  Hungarian  Reformed 
Church,  as  well  as  himself.  But,  while  agreeing  with 
Calvin,  he  yet  differed.  Before  his  time  the  strength  of 
his  predecessors  lay  in  their  exegesis.  He  made  promi- 
nent the  philosophical.     He  aimed  to   introduce  philo- 


68  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

sophical  statements  which  would  prepare  the  way  for 
scholastic  dogma.  He  was  the  most  philosophical  of 
the  Basle  theologians.  In  philosophy,  he  tried  to  medi- 
ate between  Aristotelianism  and  the  philosophy  of 
Ramus,  who  claimed  that  Aristotelianism  must  be  cast 
aside,  because  Catholicism  was  founded  on  Aristotelian- 
ism, and  Protestantism  must  be  based  on  a  new  philos- 
ophy. But,  though  so  strong  on  dogmatics,  he  was  not 
professor  of  dogmatics,  for,  as  yet,  no  such  chair  ex- 
isted at  Basle.  But,  on  the  day  of  his  death,  such  a 
chair  was  established,  thus  increasing  the  professorships 
of  theology  there  from  two  to  three.  Polanus,  with 
Wolleb,  or  Wollebius,  of  whom  we  shall  speak  later, 
were  the  two  great  theologians  of  Basle  just  after  the 
Reformation. 


CHAPTER  III 

SCHAFFHAUSEN 

Schaffhausen,  too,  revealed  a  slight  tinge  of  Luther- 
anism,  but  not  so  generally  as  did  Basle.  It  appeared  in 
only  one  individual,  but  he  as  antistes  and  dekan  exerted 
considerable  influence. 

Section   i 

antistes  conrad  ulmer 

Conrad  of  Ulm,  or  Ulmer,  as  he  was  called,  was 
born  1 5 19  and  studied  at  Schaffhausen,  Basle  and  Wit- 
tenberg. At  the  latter  university  he  was  the  pupil  of 
Luther  and  Melancthon.  There  he  received  his  master's 
degree  and  for  a  time  delivered  lectures.  After  serving 
a  charge  in  Germany  he  returned  to  Schaffhausen.  He 
was,  however,  compelled  to  pass  a  severe  examination 
before  the  ministers  because  he  was  suspected  of  Luth- 
eran tendencies,  but  he  was  admitted  to  the  ministry  in 
the  canton.  In  spite  of  his  suspected  Lutheranism  he 
soon  rose  to  prominence,  for  at  that  time  the  difficulty 
with  the  Schaffhausen  church  was  that  she  had  no 
leader  and  no  minister  his  equal  in  ability.  As  a  result 
he  was  elected  antistes  1569.  But  the  next  year  he  was 
made  dekan  because  of  his  suspected  Lutheranism.  He 
early  revealed  this  by  the  publication  of  his  catechism 
in  1562.  Before  that  time  Leo  Juda's  catechism  had 
been  used  in  the  canton.  His  catechism,  notwithstanding 
the  fact  that  Bullinger  expressed  himself  pleased  with 

69 


jo  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

it,  caused  a  great  strife  in  the  canton.    This  was: 

(i)  Because  of  some  Lutheranizing  statements  in  it; 
also 

(2)  Because  it  was  written  in  the  German  dialect 
and  not  in  the  Swiss  dialect. 

(3)  Because  its  Scripture  quotations  were  taken 
from  the  Bible  of  Luther,  and  not  from  the  Zurich  Bible, 
then  used  in  Schaffhausen.  The  strife  in  the  church 
became  so  severe  that  Bullinger  was  called  upon  to  act 
as  a  mediator.  The  result  was  a  new  catechism  based 
on  Leo  Juda's,  but  containing  some  answers  of  Ulmer's 
and  also  the  twenty-first  answer  of  the  Heidelberg  Cate- 
chism on  faith.  This  catechism  used  the  Swiss  dialect. 
Thus,  instead  of  using  the  German  word  for  cup  (kelch), 
it  used  the  Swiss  word  (geschirr).  The  Bible  quotations 
were  also  from  the  Swiss  Bible,  thus  making  it  a  Swiss 
book,  and  it  was,  therefore,  welcomed  by  the  Swiss  of 
Schaffhausen.  It  continued  in  use  until  1663,  when  the 
Heidelberg  Catechism  was  introduced  through  the  efforts 
of  dekan  Melchoir  Hurter,  and  later  became  the  doctrinal 
standard  of  the  canton. 

Ulmer  made  a  similar  attempt  in  1592  to  introduce 
a  liturgy.  It  was  based  mainly  on  the  Zurich  liturgy, 
though  its  formula  for  the  Lord's  Supper  was  taken 
from  the  Bern  liturgy.  But  it,  too,  proved  objectionable 
because  it  used  the  German  dialect  instead  of  the  Swiss 
dialect,  which  was  generally  used  in  the  services.  The 
conflict  between  the  old  Schaffhausen  liturgy  and  it  con- 
tinued down  to  the  seventeenth  century.  Ulmer  died, 
1642. 

Schaffhausen,  in  adopting  the  Second  Helvetic  Con- 
fession, sealed  her  adherence  to  the  Reformed  faith.  So 
strongly  Reformed  was  she  that  she  was  suspicious  of 
Sulzer  at  Basle.  In  1581,  she,  with  the  other  Evangelical 
cantons,  wrote  to  Strasburg  that  she  could  not  accept 
the  Formula  of  Concord. 


PART  III 


DANGERS  TO  THE  REFORMED  FROM  THE  CATHOLICS 


Here  the  strife  as  not  merely  rivalry,  as  with  the 
Lutherans,  but  bitter  enmity.  The  Church  of  Rome 
is  ever  vigilant;  she  never  sleeps.  And  she  never  was 
more  active  than  in  the  period  just  after  the  Reformation, 
for  she  was  anxious  to  win  back  the  large  districts  she 
had  lost.  The  Jesuit  order  arose  to  aid  her  in  doing  this. 
The  signal  to  the  counter-reformation  was  the  council 
of  Trent,  1545-63.  A  great  advantage  that  Rome  had 
was  that  she  was  united,  whereas  Protestantism  was 
divided  and  thus  weakened.  This  topic  may  be  divided 
into  three  periods : 

1.  The  dangers  just  after  the  Reformation. 

2.  The  dangers  during  the  Thirty  Years'  War  (1618- 
1648). 

3.  The  dangers  after  the  Thirty  Years'  War. 


71 


CHAPTER  I 
The  Dangers  Just  After  the  Reformation 

The  defeat  of  Zurich  at  Cappel,  as  we  have  seen,  gave 
the  Protestants  a  great  blow  and  the  Catholics  great 
prestige.  The  Catholics  became  much  more  aggressive, 
forming  alliances  with  Catholics  much  as  they  pleased.  In 
1560,  the  five  Catholic  cantons,  Lucerne,  Zug,  Uri,  Schwyz 
and  Unterwalden,  formed  a  political  alliance  with  Savoy, 
the  Catholic  duchy  lying  south  of  Switzerland,  and  in 
1565  they  formed  a  political  alliance  with  the  pope,  in 
which  they  swore  that  Catholicism  would  be  retained  in 
Switzerland. 

All  this  was  threatening,  but  more  threatening  than 
this  was  the  Golden  Alliance  (bund).  This  was  named 
after  Cardinal  Borromeo,  of  Milan,  a  nephew  of  the 
pope,  the  Borromean  Alliance.  The  southern  part  of 
Switzerland,  Ticino  and  Valtellina,  was  a  part  of  his 
diocese.  He  not  only  visited  every  part  of  his  diocese, 
but  travelled  on  foot  all  over  Switerland,  gathering  the 
scattered  flocks  either  by  persuasion  or  by  force  into 
the  Catholic  Church.  In  1574  he  founded  a  Jesuit  college 
at  Freiburg,  one  of  the  Catholic  cantons,  at  which  the 
celebrated  Canisius,  the  author  of  the  Catholic  catechism, 
taught.  In  1579  he  founded  the  Helvetic  college  at 
Milan,  in  which  forty  Swiss  were  educated  at  his  expense. 
In  1584  he  introduced  the  Capuchins  into  Lugano.  To 
the  Jesuits  he  committed  education,  to  the  Capuchins 
preaching.  In  1574  the  Jesuits  were  called  to  Lucerne, 
and  later  he  caused  the  other  orders  to  be  introduced. 

In  1579  he  sent  a  papal  nuncio  to  Lucerne,  which 
was  very  distasteful  to  the  Protestants,  who  feared  his 

73 


74  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

influence.  This  is  shown  by  an  incident.  On  Decem- 
ber 10,  1580,  the  nuncio  had  occasion,  in  order  to  go 
from  Lucerne  to  Freiburg,  to  travel  through  the  Protest- 
ant canton  of  Bern.  His  clerical  clothing  led  him  to  be 
recognized  as  he  rode  through  the  streets  of  Bern  on  a 
market  day,  and  the  children  threw  snowballs  at  him. 
As  a  result,  a  perfect  avalanche  of  complaints  poured 
into  the  next  Swiss  diet,  so  that  a  war  almost  resulted. 
This  nuncio  finally  brought  the  Catholic  cantons  of 
Switzerland  into  a  league  called  the  Golden  or  Borro- 
mean  Alliance,  October  5,  1586.  In  it  the  five  original 
Catholic  cantons  were  increased  by  the  addition  of  Frei- 
burg and  Solothurn.  This  alliance,  on  May  12,  1587, 
formed  an  alliance  with  Spain,  a  foreign  Catholic  power. 
Out  of  this  movement  arose  what  were  really  two  con- 
federacies within  Switzerland,  the  Protestant  Diet,  whose 
capital  was  at  Aarau,  and  the  Catholic  Alliance,  whose 
capital  was  at  Lucerne.  This  arraying  of  organized 
Protestantism  and  Catholicism  against  each  other  was 
a  menace,  forboding  war. 

There  is  not  space  to  enter  into  the  methods  by  which 
the  Catholics  harassed  the  Protestants.*  Suffice  it  to  say 
that  there  was  not  a  canton  that  did  not  suffer,  and  the 
Protestants  were  entirely  driven  out  of  the  Catholic 
cantons. 

Section  i 

appenzexl 

This  little  district  in  northeastern  Switzerland  was 
greatly  divided  on  the  subject  of  religion.  It  was  divided 
racially.  The  mountain  inhabitants  of  Inner  Rhoden 
were   Romansch    in   blood   and   speech.     Like   the    five 

*  See  BIoe=ch  "Geschichte  der  Schweizerischen  Kirche," 
Vol.  I,  pages  307-381. 


APPENZELL  75 

Catholic  mountain  cantons,  Lucerne,  etc.,  they  were  non- 
progressive and  remained  Catholic.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  inhabitants  of  the  outer  region  (Outer  Rhoden),  the 
district  lying  toward  Lake  Constance,  were  of  Frankish 
or  German  descent  and  language.  They  were  progressive 
and  became  Protestants.  When  the  Borromean  Alliance 
came  into  existence,  the  few  Protestants  in  Inner  Rhoden, 
the  Catholic  district,  were  forbidden  to  worship.  In 
1584  the  government  introduced  the  Gregorian  calendar, 
which  would  have  caused  a  war  between  the  two  parts 
if  the  Swiss  Diet  had  not  intervened  and  allowed  the 
Protestants  to  observe  the  old  calendar.  In  1585  the 
Capuchin  monks  were  called  thither,  and  this  heightened 
the  opposition.  The  Catholic  district  tried  to  suppress 
the  Protestants  within  its  borders.  Matters  came  to  a 
crisis  in  the  last  decade  of  the  sixteenth  century,  when 
the  Catholic  part,  without  the  consent  of  the  Protestant 
part,  tried  to  league  itself  with  Spain.  Then  the  Protest- 
ants tried  to  league  themselves  with  Zurich.  Finally  the 
matter  came  before  the  Swiss  Diet  (1597),  which  wisely 
decided  that  as  the  canton  divided  itself  geographically 
about  religion,  the  two  parts  of  the  canton  should  sepa- 
rate into  half -cantons.  Each  was  given  a  vote  in  the 
Swiss  Diet,  but,  as  they  always  voted  against  each  other, 
they  only  nullified  their  influence.  But  they  made  up 
for  this  by  the  extravagant  style  in  which  their  ambas- 
sadors lived  at  foreign  courts.  Inner  Rhoden,  in  1600, 
joined  the  Borromean  Alliance. 

Section  2 

BASLE 

This  canton,  though  Protestant,  yet  had  a  strong 
Catholic  population  in  the  southwestern  corner,  in  the 
beautiful  valley  of  the  Munster,  in  the  Jura  mountains. 
In  this  part  the  Catholic  bishop  of  Basle,  who  had  been 


76  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

driven  out  of  Basle-city,  was  continually  intriguing  to  re- 
gain power.    In  1579  the  bishop,  then  Blarer  of  Warten- 
see,  became  aggressive.  He  formed  a  league  with  the  seven 
Catholic  cantons,  and,  against  the  will  of  his  Protestant 
subjects,  brought  in  the  Jesuits  and  began  a  systematic 
destruction  of  Protestantism  in  that  territory.     In  1581 
he   forced  Catholic  services  in  the  Reformed  churches 
of  Birseck,  LaufTenthal  and  Paffeningen,  although  those 
districts  were  mainly  Protestant.     In  1589  he  dedicated 
the  Reformed  Church  at  Birseck  to  Catholic  worship. 
The  year  before  this  he  ordered  all  the  Protestants  there 
either  to  become  Catholics  or  leave.    Complaint  was  made 
to  Basle,  but  nothing  was  done.     One  by  one  the  Re- 
formed ministers  were  driven  away.     The  reason  why 
Basle   did  not   do   anything  was  because   she   feared   a 
civil  war  if  she  did.    This  aggressive  bishop  died,  1608. 
Muhlhausen,  then  in  the  northern  part  of  the  canton, 
was  also  threatened  by  the  Catholics.     The  town  was 
Protestant.     But  two  of  its  citizens,  being  unsuccessful 
in  a  suit  against  the  town,  went  to  the  Borromean  Alliance 
for  support.     The  result  was  a  revolution  in  the  town, 
and  the  government  was  overthrown.     Had  they  contin- 
ued   in    power,    the    whole    town    would    have    become 
Catholic.    But  Basle  and  the  Swiss  sent  an  army,  which, 
in  1587,  captured  the  town  and  restored  it  to  its  rightful 
rulers.     But  Muhlhausen   afterwards  was   incorporated 
in  Germany.     Constance  also  drove  out  the  Protestants 
and  became  later  incorporated  in  Germany. 

Section  3 

geneva  and  the  escalade 

The  danger  of  Geneva  lay  in  her  geographical  posi- 
tion. Although  the  centre  of  the  Reformed  Church, 
yet  geographically  she  was  located  on  the  edge  of  Protest- 
antism.   Rome  and  Geneva  stood  over  against  each  other 


GENEVA  yy 

and  not  very  far  apart  geographically.  Indeed,  Geneva 
was  in  a  measure  separated  from  the  rest  of  Protestant- 
ism, and  at  the  same  time  almost  completely  surrounded 
by  Catholic  powers,  as  France  and  Savoy.  Only  a  narrow 
strip  of  land  three  or  four  miles  wide,  along  the  west 
shore  of  lake  Geneva,  connected  Geneva  with  Switzer- 
land and  the  Protestant  states.  A  few  soldiers  could 
have  quickly  cut  this  off.  Of  course,  she  could  have 
had  connection  up  the  lake  of  Geneva,  but  this  was  often 
uncertain.  To  make  her  situation  still  more  dangerous, 
the  neighboring  duke  of  Savoy,  her  former  ruler,  had 
never  given  up  his  claim  to  the  city,  and  was  always  on 
the  watch,  ready  to  intrigue  with  any  dissatisfied  element 
in  the  city,  so  as  to  gain  an  entrance  and  reconquer  her. 
Judged  by  these  facts,  the  preservation  of  Geneva  to 
Protestantism  during  the  centuries  since  the  reformation 
has  been  one  of  the  historical  miracles  of  Europe. 
Nothing  but  the  providence  of  God  and  the  watchfulness 
of  the  Protestant  powers,  Bern,  Zurich  and  Holland,  ever 
preserved  Geneva  to  Protestantism.  Geneva,  feeling  her 
isolation,  tried  to  join  the  Swiss  confederacy  in  1557,  but 
the  Catholics  had  the  majority  in  the  Swiss  Diet  and  she 
was  refused.  The  Catholics,  in  this  refusal,  expressed 
a  wish  for  the  utter  extermination  of  the  city  of  Calvin. 
Meanwhile  the  Catholics,  especially  under  Francis  De 
Sales,  the  titular  bishop  of  Geneva,  who  was  mystically 
inclined,  made  many  converts  in  the  immediate  neighbor- 
hood of  Geneva,  no  less  than  6,000  persons  between 
1591-96. 

The  Catholics  of  Savoy,  emboldened  by  the  refusal 
of  the  Swiss  Diet  to  allow  Geneva  to  become  a  canton, 
thus  finding  out  how  much  enmity  and  power  there  was 
in  Switzerland  against  Geneva,  projected  fresh  schemes 
against  her.  But  they  were  baffled,  although  Geneva 
would  have  been  subject  to  the  attacks  of  the  duke  of 
Savoy  had  not  King  Henry  IV  of  France  volunteered 


78  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

to  protect  the  city.  About  the  beginning  of  the  seven- 
teenth century,  a  "league  of  the  spoon"  was  started  in 
Savoy  against  Geneva.  Its  members  boasted  that  they 
would  sup  up  the  Huguenots  as  if  they  were  spoon- food 
like  soup.*  The  president  of  this  league  of  the  spoon 
undertook  to  ride  through  Geneva  with  an  escort,  to  show 
how  easily  it  could  be  done.  But  he  was  chased  till  he 
sought  refuge  in  a  house  on  the  wall  with  whose  occu- 
pants he  was  secretly  in  league.  There  he  was  killed 
by  the  mob.  In  spite  of  this,  the  league  of  the  spoon 
continued  and  chose  another  leader.  But  all  this  revealed 
the  danger  gathering  around  Geneva. 

The  crisis  came  in  the  Escalade.f  Two  thousand 
Savoyards  secretly  approached  the  walls  one  dark  night, 
December  12,  1602,  and  350  climbed  up  to  the  top  of 
the  walls  by  ladders.  They  were  incited  as  they  climbed 
by  the  words  of  the  Jesuit  priests :  "Mount  courageously, 
for  every  round  into  the  city  is  a  step  toward  heaven." 
They  were  about  to  admit  their  associates  outside,  and 
were  so  sure  of  success  that  they  dispatched  a  messenger 
to  their  commander  announcing  their  success,  and  cour- 
iers were  sent  already  to  Rome,  Turin  and  Madrid  with 
the  news  that  Geneva  was  captured.  But  suddenly  a 
Genevese  sentinel,  hearing  a  noise  as  he  went  the  rounds, 
came  upon  them.  They  killed  him,  but  not  till  he  had 
discharged  his  gun.  This  gave  the  alarm.  The  citizens 
were  roused  to  the  danger.  One  of  the  Genevese  fired 
a  cannonball  in  the  darkness  at  random  along  the  city 
wall.  Providence  guided  it,  for  it  destroyed  all  the 
ladders  on  which  the  Savoyards  had  ascended  into  the 
city.  At  the  same  time,  the  portcullis  was  dropped,  and 
the  Savoyards  in  the  city  were  imprisoned  like  rats  in  a 

*  Men  took  the  spoon  as  crusaders  took  the  cross,  says  a 
writer. 

t  The  word  escalade  meant  ladder,  and  it  was  named  thus,  as 
ladders  were  used. 


GENEVA  79 

trap.  They  were  attacked  and  surrounded  by  thousands 
of  armed  citizens.  Cannonballs  swept  the  streets  and 
cut  through  their  ranks  until  they  retreated  to  the  ladders, 
only  to  find  them  gone.  They  were  driven  over  the  wall, 
to  fall  into  the  fosse  below.  Out  of  the  360  who  entered 
the  city,  only  yy  escaped  death  by  surrender.  They  were 
all  hung  from  the  ramparts  as  a  warning  to  the  Savoy- 
ards, and  their  bodies  afterwards  cast  into  the  river 
Rhone.  Of  these,  13  were  nobles  of  Savoy.  When 
the  Escalade  was  over,  the  citizens  of  Geneva  gathered 
in  a  great  crowd  at  the  cathedral  for  a  thanksgiving 
service,  at  which  Beza  gave  out  the  124th  Psalm  to  be 
sung.  Since  then,  annually  on  December  12,  there  is  a 
religious  service  in  Geneva  commemorative  of  the  Esca- 
lade, at  which  this  Psalm  is  sung.  There  is  a  monument 
in  Geneva  commemorating  the  Escalade  which  has  bas- 
reliefs,  one  of  which  represents  Beza  giving  out  the 
124th  Psalm  at  the  door  of  the  cathedral. 

This  attack  on  Geneva  thoroughly  alarmed  the  Pro- 
testant states  to  the  danger  which  threatened  Geneva. 
The  Evangelical  states  of  Switzerland  sent  troops  to 
protect  the  city.  But  a  general  war  was  only  averted  by 
the  combined  efforts  of  France,  Spain  and  the  pope.  In 
1630  a  treaty  of  peace  was  made  which  prohibited  the 
advance  of  the  army  of  Savoy  within  sixteen  miles  of 
the  city.  This  was  a  great  protection  to  Geneva,  and  pre- 
vented any  further  attempts  like  the  Escalade.  Later 
the  city,  by  the  aid  of  the  Dutch,  was  more  completely 
fortified. 

Section  4 

VALAIS 

The  district  of  Valais,  situated  northeast  of  the  lake 
of  Geneva,  in  the  Rhone  valley,  though  strongly  Catholic, 
yet  had  a  number  of  Protestants,  especially  among  the 


8o  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

leading  families.  The  pastor  at  Visp  Kaufman  was 
Evangelical,  and  Protestant  services  were  held  under  the 
governor-general  of  Brigue.  Strong  Reformed  congre- 
gations were  organized  at  Sion  and  Leuk.  In  1560 
Haller  wrote  to  Bullinger  from  Bern  that  one  might  hope 
that  Valais  might  become  Evangelical.  There  was  a 
political  reason  for  this,  for  Valais  feared  its  neighbor, 
Savoy,  and  Savoy  was  Catholic.  The  result  was  that 
at  Sion  and  Leuk  Protestants  were  tolerated  for  many 
years.  But  in  1591  came  the  change.  The  Protestants 
were  ordered  to  leave  or  become  Catholic.  The  Capuchins 
and  Jesuits  were  left  in  about  1600.  The  influence  of 
Henry  IV  of  France  caused  some  toleration  for  a  time, 
but  after  his  death  severe  persecutions  broke  out.  And  yet, 
when  Breitinger  visited  them  on  his  return  from  Geneva 
in  161 1,  he  was  encouraged  at  finding  so  many  Protest- 
ants, and  his  influence  led  six  or  seven  of  them  to  come 
to  Zurich  to  study  in  1614.  But  by  1630  the  Jesuits  had 
swept  away  the  last  vestige  of  Protestantism,  those  who 
remained  Protestants  having  fled  over  the  high  Gemmi 
pass  to  the  canton  of  Bern. 


CHAPTER  II 

The  Dangers  during  the  Thirty  Years'  War 
(1618-1648) 

The  Thirty  Years'  War  was  pre-eminently  a  war  in 
Germany  and  Austria,  but  Switzerland  was  greatly  con- 
cerned in  it,  and  certain  districts  suffered  severely  by  it. 
There  were  two  things,  one  external,  the  other  internal, 
that  made  the  war  threatening.  The  first  was  the  claim 
of  the  Catholic  powers  over  Switzerland.  The  Emperor 
of  Germany  still  claimed  a  sort  of  suzerainty  over 
Switzerland,  which  was  not  given  up  until  the  end  of 
this  war.  As  Archduke  of  Austria,  he  also  laid  special 
claim  to  a  part  of  the  canton  of  the  Grisons  called  the 
ten  Jurisdictions.  As  a  result,  Switzerland  became  in- 
volved in  a  terrible  war  in  that  canton  in  the  east.  She 
was  also  touched  by  the  war  in  Thurgau,  in  the  north. 

The  Catholic  Church  as  well  as  its  princes  threatened 
Switzerland.  In  1629,  when  the  Interim  was  introduced 
into  Germany,  the  Catholic  princes  ordered  it  to  be  intro- 
duced into  Switzerland,  for  the  property  of  the  Protest- 
ant churches  in  Constance,  St.  Gall  and  Basle  was  ordered 
to  be  returned  to  the  Catholics.  The  bishop  of  Basle 
became  aggressive  and  hoped  by  the  aid  of  the  German 
Emperor  even  to  get  back  the  Basle  cathedral  from  the 
Reformed.  Indeed,  the  German  Emperor  wanted  to  gain 
Basle  for  Germany,  as  he  had  Miihlhausen,  and  as  Arch- 
duke of  Austria  he  wanted  to  gain  the  canton  of  the 
Grisons  for  Austria.  These  hopes  were  dashed  by  the 
coming  of  Gustavus  Adolphus,  the  Swedish  king,  and 
his  victories. 

The  second  danger  of  the  war  was  internal,  due  to 
6  81 


82  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

the  jealousy  between  the  Catholic  and  Protestant  cantons. 
Thus  Zurich  was  inclined,  during  the  early  part  of  the 
war,  to  support  the  Protestants  in  the  hope  of  winning 
back  Constance  from  Germany  to  Switzerland  again,  for 
by  getting  the  votes  of  Constance  in  the  Swiss  diet  the 
majority  would  be  Protestant  instead  of  Catholic.  Breit- 
inger  was  the  leader  of  this  so-called  Swedish  party  at 
Zurich.  But,  though  this  found  some  support  in  Bern, 
Basle  and  Schaffhausen  held  back.  Repeatedy,  how- 
ever, the  Catholic  and  Protestant  cantons  were  on  the 
verge  of  war,  owing  to  complications  produced  by  it. 

Section  i 
thurgau  and  the  case  oe  kesselring 

The  border  cantons  on  the  north,  as  Schaffhausen 
and  Thurgau,  were  repeatedly  threatened  by  the  war. 
This  came  to  a  crisis  in  September,  1633,  when  the 
Swedish  army  under  General  Horn  boldly  marched  past 
Stein,  on  the  Rhine,  through  Thurgau,  so  as  to  get  on 
the  southern  and  most  vulnerable  side  of  the  city  of 
Constance,  which  they  proposed  to  besiege.  This  viola- 
tion of  the  neutrality  of  Switzerland  led  the  Austrians 
to  do  the  same  thing,  for  they  marched  through  the  terri- 
tory of  Schaffhausen  to  Rhinefelden.  This  passage  of 
the  Swedes  produced  a  tremendous  uproar  in  Switzer- 
land. Within  two  weeks  after  the  passage,  3,000  soldiers 
of  the  Catholic  cantons  were  in  Protestant  Thurgau. 
Fortunately,  the  Swedes  withdrew  early  in  October.  This 
passage  of  the  Swedes  led  the  Catholic  cantons  to  believe 
that  Zurich  had  formed  an  alliance  with  the  Swedes,  and 
they  used  it  as  a  pretext  the  next  year,  when  they  entered 
into  a  secret  treaty  with  Austria  and  Spain,  so  as  to  give 
them  the  right  to  march  through  their  territory. 

Out  of  this  passage  of  the  Swedes  through  Thurgau 
grew  a  circumstance  that  nearly  led  Switzerland  to  the 


THURGAU  83 

verge  of  civil  war.  The  leader  of  the  troops  of  the  canton 
of  Thurgau  at  that  time  was  Kilian  Kesselring,  born 
at  Zurich,  but  a  citizen  of  Thurgau.*  The  Catholics 
brought  charges  of  treason  against  him  because  he  had 
not  stopped  the  Swedes  from  entering  Switzerland.  That 
at  heart  he  may  have  wished  well  to  the  Swedes  is  prob- 
ably true,  for  he  was  a  zealous  Reformed.  But  recent 
investigation  seems  to  show  that  he  was  guiltless  of 
treason.  But  the  Catholic  cantons  were  determined  to 
have  revenge,  and  they  arrested  him  October  5,  1633, 
and  threw  him  into  prison  in  Wyl.  Zurich  interceded 
for  his  release,  but  in  vain.  He  was  charged  with  treason, 
and  from  October  24  to  November  7  he  was  frequently 
put  to  torture,  so  as  to  get  him  to  confess  his  guilt,  which 
he  persisted  in  denying.  On  November  8  he  was  removed 
to  the  town  of  Schwyz,  where  he  was  safer  from  any 
rescue  by  the  Protestants.  There  from  December  to 
January,  1635,  he  was  closely  confined  in  the  thieves' 
tower  and  frequently  tortured.  In  one  of  these  tortures, 
his  arm  was  torn  from  its  ligaments  in  the  shoulder,  and, 
as  it  was  not  attended  to  by  a  physician,  he  lay  in  agony 
for  sixteen  weeks.  Zurich,  assisted  by  Bern,  tried  to 
gain  his  freedom.  The  matter  came  before  a  Swiss  diet 
February  26,  1634,  but  the  Catholic  cantons  refused  to 
set  him  free  and  made  an  alliance  with  Austria  and 
Spain,  which  made  the  Protestant  cantons  afraid  to  press 
the  case  further  for  fear  of  war.  On  September  4,  1634, 
he  was  tortured  by  being  hung  up  for  two  hours,  the 
second  hour  with  twenty  pounds  of  stone  hanging  from 
his  feet  to  make  the  pain  greater.  The  ground  beneath 
him  was  wet  with  the  sweat-drops  of  his  suffering.  The 
news  of  this  barbarity  at  Zurich  almost  drove  that  canton 
to  the  verge  of  war.  Finally  the  verdict  was  rendered, 
January  29,  1635.     He  was  condemned  for  treason  and 

*  See  Keller's  "Der  kriegsgerichtliche  Process  gegen  Kilian 
Kesselring,"  1884. 


84  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

found  worthy  of  death.  But,  on  account  of  the  inter- 
cession of  France,  Zurich  and  others,  his  life  was  spared. 
But  a  fine  of  5,000  gulden  was  placed  on  him,  which,  with 
the  costs,  made  a  total  of  13,856  gulden.  This  Zurich 
promptly  paid,  and  he  was  at  length  set  at  freedom  after 
a  sixteen  months'  imprisonment.  Great  was  the  joy  of 
the  Protestants  at  this,  for  he  was  looked  upon  as  a  martyr 
for  their  cause.  He  died  in  1650,  protesting  to  the  end 
his  innocence  of  the  charge  of  treason. 

Section  2 
the  massacre  oe  the  valtellina 

But  the  district  of  Switzerland  that  most  suffered  in 
the  Thirty  Years'  War  was  the  large  eastern  canton  of 
the  Grisons.  Here,  at  the  beginning  of  the  war,  an  awful 
massacre  of  the  Protestants  occurred. 

Before  describing  this,  it  is  necessary  to  note  the  com- 
plex nature  of  the  canton  of  the  Grisons.  It  contained 
within  it  three  races,  the  Germans  in  the  north,  the  Ro- 
mansch  in  the  center  and  the  Italians  in  the  south.  Its 
government  consisted  of  three  different  parties  loosely 
joined  together,  the  Graybands,  the  League  of  God's 
House  and  the  ten  Jurisdictions.  To  make  matters  still 
more  complex,  these  were  still  further  divided  between 
the  Protestants  and  the  Catholics.  The  Prattigau  and 
Engadine  districts  were  Protestant,  the  Italian  and  Ober- 
alp,  Catholic.  In  the  days  of  the  Reformation,  the  Catho- 
lics and  Protestants  had  come  to  an  understanding  by 
which  each  respected  the  other's  rights.  This  occurred 
at  Ilanz,  January  7,  1526,  and  was  the  first  illustration 
of  religious  liberty  after  the  Reformation,  occuring  long 
before  the  Pilgrims  came  to  Plymouth  Rock  in   1620.* 

*  Still  the  Catholics  of  the  Italian  part  of  the  canton  always 
resisted  any  aggressive  movements  of  the  Protestants.  Thus  an 
Evangelical  school  for  training  Italian  Reformed  ministers  was 
founded  at  Sondrio,  in  1582,  but  had  to  be  given  up,  1585. 


THE  GRISONS  85 

When,  therefore,  the  bitter  feelings  stirred  up  by  the 
Thirty  Years'  War  came  on,  it  became  impossible  to  con- 
tinue this  toleration  of  each  other,  and  Protestants  and 
Catholics  were  ready  to  fly  at  each  other's  throats.  What 
made  matters  the  more  threatening  to  the  Protestants 
was  that  there  was  a  strong  party  favorable  to  Austria, 
for  Austria  still  claimed  a  sort  of  authority  over  a  part 
of  the  canton.  She  was  also  anxious  to  get  control  of 
the  canton,  because  it  contained  the  one  pass  by  which 
the  armies  of  Europe  could  most  easily  pass  between 
Germany  and  Italy,  the  Splugen  pass.  So  this  canton 
became  during  this  war  the  bone  of  contention  between 
foreign  powers,  Austria  and  Spain  on  the  one  side  and 
France  and  Venice  on  the  other,  and  the  inhabitants  were 
the  terrible  sufferers  from  both  sides. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  war,  there  were  two  hostile 
parties  in  the  canton,  the  Catholic,  led  by  the  Plantas, 
and  the  Protestants,  led  by  Salis  and  Jenatsch,  a  pictur- 
esque adventurer  of  that  day.  The  former  wanted  the 
canton  to  join  the  league  of  the  five  Catholic  cantons, 
which,  of  course,  the  Protestants  greatly  opposed.  It 
happened  that  at  the  beginning  of  the  Thirty  Years'  War 
the  Protestants  did  a  very  unwise  thing.  Jenatsch  led 
to  the  establishment  of  a  court  at  Thusis  (1618),  which 
condemned  many  of  the  Catholic  party  to  imprisonment 
and  death.  This  tribunal  arrested  the  chief  priest  of 
Sondrio,  in  the  Valtellina  valley,  Alexander,  and  put  him 
to  death.  Roused  by  the  intrigues  of  the  Plantas  with 
the  pope  and  with  Spain,  it  condemned  the  two  brothers 
Planta  to  banishment  and  the  confiscation  of  their  estates. 
The  Plantas  then  determined  on  revenge.  It  was  Robus- 
tello,  Planta's  cousin,  who  planned  the  massacre  of  the 
Valtellina.*  Then  occurred  the  St.  Bartholomew  massa- 
cre of  the  Thirty  Years'  War. 

*  This  region,  located  south  of  the  Alps,  is  now  in  Italy, 
though  then  it  was  included  in  the  Grisons. 


86  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

Rumors  of  such  a  proposed  massacre  of  the  Protest- 
ants had  become  rife,  so  Robustello,  rinding  that  the 
secret  was  out,  started  with  a  band  of  men  from  Milan 
on  his  awful  work.  They  arrived  at  Tirano,  at  the  upper 
or  eastern  end  of  the  valley,  where  four  shots  on  the 
morning  of  July  19,  1620,  before  the  city  hall,  were  the 
signal  to  begin.  One  of  the  first  to  fall  was  the  magis- 
trate Enderlin,  who,  finding  his  room  attacked,  defended 
himself  until  his  powder  gave  out.  Then  they  tore  up 
the  roof  and  shot  him.  His  bloody  body  was  thrown  into 
the  street  and  then  into  the  river  Adda.  Several  leading 
members  of  the  Reformed  church  tried  to  hide,  but  were 
dragged  out  and  killed.  The  pastor  of  the  Reformed 
church,  Basso,  had  fled  with  some  of  his  members  to  the 
church  to  gain  strength  by  prayer.  Their  enemies  rushed 
in,  drove  out  all  the  women  and  killed  the  men.  They 
cut  off  the  minister's  head,  and,  putting  it  on  a  stick, 
stood  it  up  in  the  pulpit.  One  of  the  magistrates,  Capol, 
was  in  the  court-house  when  it  was  surrounded  by  the 
Catholic  populace.  As  they  could  not  break  in,  they 
threatened  to  burn  it  down,  so  he  finally  threw  himself 
from  it  into  the  river,  but  was  found  by  them.  '"Give 
up  your  faith  and  your  life  is  safe,"  they  said  to  him. 
"Why  should  I  deny  my  Lord  when  He  has  done  so 
much  for  me?"  was  his  reply  as  they  killed  him.  Sixty 
were  killed  at  Tirano. 

Then  the  tide  of  massacre  proceeded  down  the  valley, 
led  by  Robustello  and  his  band.  They  came  to  Teglio 
as  the  Catholics  were  holding  their  worship.  Besta  went 
in  to  the  congregation  and  made  an  address,  falsely 
charging  that  the  Reformed  had  planned  a  massacre  of 
the  Catholics  the  next  month,  and  that  6,000  Dutch  sol- 
diers would  be  at  hand.  This  so  angered  the  Catholic 
congregation  that  they  en  masse  followed  Robustello 
against  the  Reformed.  The  Reformed  in  the  meanwhile 
had  fled  to  their  church.     Besta  opened  the  door  as  the 


THE  GRISONS  87 

minister  in  the  pulpit  was  praying  and  fired.  The  Re- 
formed barricaded  the  door,  and  then  the  Catholics  shot 
in  through  the  windows,  wounding  and  killing.  The  min- 
ister, Dauz,  already  wounded  in  the  pulpit,  urged  his 
hearers  to  fortitude  until  he  was  shot  down.  When  the 
door  was  broken  open,  the  rest  fled  to  the  church-tower. 
Then  the  enemies  brought  benches  into  its  lower  floor  and 
set  them  on  fire,  till  the  woodwork  was  consumed  and  the 
rest  burned  up  in  an  awful  holocaust.  Forty  or  fifty 
were  killed  in  the  church  and  seventeen  in  the  tower. 

Sondrio,  at  the  lower  or  western  end  of  the  valley 
of  the  Valtellina,  was  the  next  place.  Here  the  Reformed 
were  more  numerous.  When  the  news  of  the  massacre 
up  the  valley  came  there,  the  Catholic  chancellor,  Para- 
vicini,  took  grounds  against  Robustello  and  tried  to  keep 
peace  between  Catholics  and  Reformed.  But  chancellor 
Mingardini  urged  his  Reformed  brethren  to  take  up  arms, 
and  seventeen  men  joined  him.  They  fortified  themselves 
in  the  house  next  to  the  city-hall.  During  the  night,  the 
priests  went  about  inciting  the  Catholics,  and  when  morn- 
ing came  some  dead  Reformed  were  found  in  the  streets. 
Then  Mingardini  gathered  his  little  band,  placed  the 
women  and  children  in  the  middle  and  marched  them 
through  the  streets,  calling  on  the  other  Reformed  to 
join  them  as  they  departed  from  the  city.  Their  number 
increased  finally  to  73.  The  Catholics  were  so  surprised 
at  this  bravery  that  they  did  not  attempt  to  attack  them. 
The  Protestants  went  to  the  mountain  above  the  town, 
spent  a  short  time  there  in  a  service  of  prayer  and  thanks- 
giving for  their  deliverance  with  their  pastor,  and  then 
escaped  through  the  Malenco  valley  over  the  Muretto 
pass  to  the  Engadine.  Soon  after  Robustello  (his  band 
of  300  when  he  left  Teglio  having  grown  to  800  on  the 
way)  arrived  at  Sondrio.  For  three  days  they  murdered 
not  only  the  Reformed,  but  any  Catholics  who  seemed 
friendly  to  them.     One  of  them  was  a  butcher,  indeed, 


88  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

for  he  claimed  to  have  killed  18  Protestants.  At  Ber- 
benno  many  of  the  Protestants  fled  to  wells,  but,  at  the 
assurance  by  the  priest  of  safety,  they  went  back,  only 
to  fall  into  Robustello's  hands  and  be  murdered.  Robus- 
tello,  finding  that  a  number  were  escaping  over  the  Ma- 
lenco  valley,  garrisoned  it  and  closed  it  against  flight, 
and  then  killed  them  as  he  wanted. 

The  testimony  of  some  of  these  martyrs  is  very  beau- 
tiful. Anna  of  Libe,  who  had  fled  from  Italy  because 
she  had  become  Protestant,  had  a  baby  two  months  old. 
They  threatened  to  kill  her  and  make  her  child  Catholic. 
She  replied,  "God,  who  cares  for  the  birds,  will  care  for 
it."  She  said  to  them,  "You  may  kill  my  body.  Here 
it  is.  But  my  soul,  which  you  cannot  kill,  I  commit  into 
the  hands  of  my  heavenly  Father."  But  this  bravery 
only  made  them  the  more  angry.  She  was  killed  and  her 
child  raised  a  Catholic.  Paolo  Beretta,  of  Venice,  who 
also  had  fled  from  Italy  to  Sondrio  for  her  faith,  and  was 
of  noble  family,  was  also  a  martyr.  She  refused  to  pray 
to  Mary  and  the  saints.  "I  place,"  she  said,  "my  trust 
in  no  creature,  but  only  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  I 
hold  Mary  for  the  holiest  virgin  on  earth,  but  she  does 
not  know  my  needs  and  is  not  almighty.  She  needs  the 
redemption  of  Jesus  Christ.  So  I  cannot  pray  to  her 
or  give  her  the  honor  which  alone  is  given  to  God  and 
to  our  Saviour."  They  terribly  maltreated  her,  though 
eighty  years  of  age,  led  her  about  with  a  devil's  cap  on 
her  head.  But  when  suffering  she  said,  "I  suffer  gladly. 
I  do  not  want  to  have  it  better  than  Jesus  and  his  apos- 
tles." She  was  sent  to  Milan,  where  she  was  burned 
by  the  inquisition  a  year  later.  Dominic  Salvetto,  who 
would  not  give  up  his  faith,  was  thrown  out  for  dead 
into  a  ditch.  But  he  lifted  himself  up  and  called  to  the 
murderers,  "Complete  your  work,  so  that  I  can  by  it  the 
quicker  give  my  soul  to  the  heavenly  Father." 

There  were  about   140  martyrs  in   Sondrio.     In  all 


THE  GRISONS  89 

there  were  about  400  martyred  in  the  Valtellina  valley, 
of  whom  seven  were  Reformed  ministers.  This  massacre 
of  the  Valtellina  caused  a  thrill  of  horror  and  indigna- 
tion in  Protestant  Switzerland.  On  the  other  side,  Rome 
granted  indulgences  to  all  who  had  taken  part  in  it.  The 
greater  part  of  those  who  escaped  went  to  Zurich,  where 
Breitinger  and  the  citizens  gladly  cared  for  them.  Zurich 
and  Bern  sent  3,000  troops  into  the  Valtellina,  but  they 
were  defeated  at  Tirano,  September  11,  1620.  The  next 
year  the  Reformed  troops  defeated  the  Catholics  and 
drove  them  into  the  canton  of  Uri.  The  result  was  that 
Spain  took  the  valley  from  the  Grisons  and  Protestantism 
was  entirely  suppressed. 

Later  Robustello  marched  up  the  valley  of  Valtellina 
into  the  Bernina  pass  against  Poschiavo  to  attack  the 
Reformed.  But  they  had  heard  of  his  coming  and  pre- 
pared themselves.  At  Brusio,  on  the  way,  he  killed  30 
Reformed  and  burned  their  houses.  But  as  he  approached 
Poschiavo  he  found  he  had  to  do  not  with  defenseless 
men,  women  and  children,  as  before.  So  he  went  into 
camp.  The  Protestants  received  reinforcements  of  200 
from  the  Engadine,  who  came  over  the  Bernina  pass. 
Then  the  Catholics  fled. 

On  April  25,  1623,  the  Catholics  made  a  second 
attempt  to  massacre  the  Reformed  at  Poschiavo.  Twenty- 
three  Reformed  were  killed  and  the  rest  fled  up  the 
Bernina  pass.  It  was  almost  impassable  so  early  in  the 
year.  About  300  got  over  the  pass  into  the  Engadine, 
but  the  old  and  weak  were  captured.  These  refused  to 
give  up  their  Reformed  faith.  Their  blood  reddened  the 
snows,  about  20  men  and  3  women.  The  Catholics  re- 
turned to  Poschiavo,  burned  all  Bibles  and  Protestant 
books  in  a  public  fire  in  the  square.  The  inhabitants  prom- 
ised not  to  tolerate  Protestants  again,  but  Protestants 
again  appeared  there.  But  till  1627  the  Reformed  did  not 
dare  to  meet  for  worship  except  in  the  hills  and  woods. 


90  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

They  were  not  allowed  to  bury  their  dead.  They  were 
served  by  ministers  from  the  Engadine,  and  on  one  occa- 
sion the  newborn  babe  of  one  of  them  was  baptized  not 
far  from  the  Bernina  glaciers,  at  Cavaglia.  It  is  inter- 
esting to  note  that  today  there  are  still  six  Italian  Re- 
formed congregations  in  Switzerland,  in  the  valleys 
Bregaglia  and  Bernina,  on  the  borders  of  Italy,  the  rem- 
nant of  the  Italian  Reformed  who  once  lived  in  those 
valleys. 

Section  3 
duke  henry  of  rohan 

A  massacre  only  rouses  the  blood-thirsty  passions,  and 
there  was  retaliation,  not,  indeed,  in  the  Valtellina  valley, 
where  there  were  no  Protestants  left  to  retaliate,  but  in 
the  Grisons.  In  the  spring  of  1621,  Pompeius  Planta, 
the  leader  of  the  Catholic  party,  having  returned  to  his 
castle  at  Reitburg,  was  assassinated  there  by  Jenatsch. 
Jenatsch  led  the  Reformed  against  the  five  Catholic  can- 
tons and  Spain,  whom  Planta  had  brought  into  the  canton, 
and  drove  them  out.  But  he  failed  to  retake  the  Valtellina 
valley. 

Then  it  was  that  Austria,  who  had  all  along  laid  some 
claim  to  part  of  the  Grisons,  determined  to  enter  the 
canton.  The  Duke  of  Austria  said,  "Since  you  want  war, 
you  shall  have  it."  In  the  fall  of  162 1,  he  sent  an  army 
of  16,000,  under  his  general,  Balderon.  Jenatsch  was  de- 
feated. Balderon  proved  a  second  Holofernes,  burning 
and  destroying  everything.  The  Reformed  ministers 
were  driven  out  and  Capuchin  monks  brought  in  to  fill 
their  places  and  convert  the  people  back  to  Rome.  Sev- 
enty-five Reformed  churches  were  thus  made  pastorless. 
The  reading  of  the  Bible  and  of  Protestant  books  was 
forbidden.  The  people  were  driven  by  force  to  hear  the 
Capuchins.     The  Reformed  said,  "If  we  must  lose  our 


THE  GRISONS  91 

liberty,  let  us  not  lose  our  souls,"  and  they  fled  to  the 
woods  and  ate  hay  and  grass  in  milk  and  water,  and 
many  died  of  hunger.  Those  who  did  not  flee  were  made 
slaves  to  the  soldiers.  Four  thousand  Reformed  left  the 
canton. 

Finally  the  persecutions  became  so  severe  that  the 
inhabitants  of  the  Prattigau  district,  in  the  northeastern 
part  of  the  canton,  became  desperate  and  rose  against  the 
invaders.  They  had  been  driven  to  the  woods.  As  their 
arms  had  been  taken  from  them,  they  now  cut  heavy  clubs 
and  drove  large  nails  into  their  heads.  They  made  dag- 
gers out  of  their  knives  and  spears  out  of  their  scythes. 
At  Schiers,  on  Palm  Sunday,  April  24,  1622,  they  sud- 
denly rose,  burst  upon  the  Austrians,  drove  them  into  a 
church  and  defeated  them,  killing  400,  and  arming 
themselves  with  the  weapons  of  the  dead.  The  hated 
leader  of  the  Capuchins,  Pater  Fidelis,  was  killed.  They 
began  a  victorious  career,  until  finally  their  general, 
Salis,  captured  Chur,  June  17,  1622.  The  Austrians, 
driven  to  their  last  defense  in  one  of  the  passes,  declared, 
"The  people  of  the  Grisons  are  like  chamois."  In  all 
about  4,000  Austrians  were  killed  and  the  rest  driven  out. 

But  there  was  relief  for  only  a  short  time,  for  Austria 
sent  a  larger  army.  Brave  was  the  resistance  of  the 
people.  A  band  of  30  patriots,  like  the  heroes  of  Ther- 
mopylae, fought  the  Austrians  and  died  fighting  one  by 
one.  But  the  Austrians  burned  all  the  villages  in  the 
Prattigau  district,  which  was  mainly  Protestant.  They 
utterly  stripped  the  country  of  the  necessities  of  life. 
In  the  lower  Engadine,  as  the  Austrians  had  burned  their 
villages,  the  inhabitants  lived  in  cellars,  sleeping  on  straw. 
They  had  to  be  very  watchful  lest  the  little  food  remain- 
ing for  the  winter  would  be  eaten  by  mice  and  rats,  who 
ran  over  their  faces  while  they  slept,  at  times  gnawing 
at  their  noses  and  ears.  As  a  result  of  this  starvation 
came  the  plague.     The  winter  1622-23  was  named  Hun- 


92  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

ger-winter  because  of  the  suffering.  But  the  orders  of 
the  Austrians  were,  "Any  one  who  does  not  go  to  the 
confessional  at  Easter  must  leave  the  land."  As  a  result, 
many  of  the  Reformed  left  the  country.  These  conditions 
lasted  several  years. 

But  when  everything  was  darkest  then  relief  appeared. 
A  new  friend  arose,  and,  strange  to  say,  a  Catholic  power, 
France.  For  France  had  not  been  unmindful  of  the  vic- 
tories that  Austria  had  been  gaining  in  the  early  part 
of  the  Thirty  Years'  War.  Fearing,  therefore,  lest  Austria 
would  become  all-powerful  in  Europe,  France  now 
started  movements  against  her.  As  early  as  1623  there 
had  been  an  alliance  between  France,  Venice  and  Savoy, 
and  a  French  army  had  entered  the  Grisons,  capturing 
Sondrio  and  Tirano  and  driving  out  the  Austrians.  But 
suddenly,  in  1626,  France  made  peace  with  Austria,  and 
the  Valtellina  was  given  back  to  the  Grisons,  but  on  con- 
dition that  the  Reformed  faith  be  not  reintroduced.  For 
France,  though  politically  friendly,  was  still  Catholic, 
and  it  seemed  as  if  friend  and  foe  thus  combined  to  keep 
out  the  Protestants.  Meanwhile  the  Emperor  of  Germany 
had  triumphed  in  Germany  in  1629.  He  now  sent  a  third 
army  against  the  Grisons.  All  liberty  vanished.  The 
sword  was  the  only  law.  The  Reformed  pastors,  driven 
out,  bade  farewell  to  their  flocks  with  tears  in  their  eyes, 
for  they  were  going  to  poverty,  they  knew  not  where. 
Vulpius,  one  of  them,  remained  in  the  neighborhood  of 
Zuz,  and  from  time  to  time  came  and  baptized,  married 
and  preached,  but  always  in  the  darkness  of  night.  Plague 
came  and  carried  off  20,000,  one-fourth  of  the  population. 
But  when  Gustavus  Adolphus  triumphed  in  Germany,  the 
inhabitants  took  heart  again.  France  by  that  time  began 
to  take  a  lively  interest.  In  1631  a  French  ambassador 
appeared  at  Chur,  the  capital  of  the  canton,  and  made  a 
treaty  with  them,  offering  them  subsidies  and  French 
soldiers  to  garrison  their  land. 


THE  GRISONS  93 

Then  came  the  problem  for  France — to  find  a  suitable 
governor  for  the  canton.  A  Catholic  governor  would 
have  been  looked  upon  with  suspicion  by  the  Protestants, 
while  the  Catholics  knew  their  rights  would  be  protected 
by  France,  which  was  a  Catholic  land.  Fortunately  there 
was  one  of  the  Huguenot  generals  still  in  connection  with 
France,  the  Duke  of  Rohan.  He  was  appointed  and 
proved  the  man  for  the  hour. 

Duke  Henry  of  Rohan  was  a  great  military  genius 
and  also  a  devoted  adherent  of  the  Reformed  Church  of 
France.  He  was  born  in  Brittany,  August  23,  1579.  He 
soon  became  one  of  the  great  leaders  of  the  Huguenot 
army.  But  when  Henry  IV  died  he  paid  the  price  for 
being  a  Huguenot  by  being  exiled  from  France,  for 
France  would  not  allow  so  great  an  enemy  to  Catholicism 
within  her  borders.  So  he  had  to  leave,  and  he  went  to 
Venice,  whose  senate  made  him  commander  of  its  army. 
In  1 63 1  he  was  appointed  French  ambassador  to  Switzer- 
land, and  ordered  (1633)  to  go  to  the  Grisons.  He 
inspired  so  much  confidence  that  he  was  elected  com- 
mander of  their  army.  But  Cardinal  Richelieu,  that  Jes- 
uitical fox,  though  he  had  appointed  Rohan  to  this  posi- 
tion, proposed  to  destroy  him  by  not  giving  him  aid  as 
he  needed  it.  Rohan  soon  gained  great  confidence  in 
Switzerland,  both  among  the  Catholics  because  he  repre- 
sented a  Catholic  land,  France,  and  among  the  Protestants 
because  he  was  a  Protestant.  It  is  said  that  it  was  at 
his  suggestion  that  the  Swedish  general  Horn  marched 
over  Swiss  territory  against  Constance.  But  this  made 
his  Catholic  subjects  lose  confidence  in  him.  They  de- 
clared that  Rohan  only  wanted  to  make  himself  general 
of  the  Protestant  cantons,  and  for  this  purpose  had  called 
the  Swedes  into  the  land.  They  complained  against  him 
to  the  French  court,  and  asked  that  a  Catholic  be  sent 
in  his  place.  France  then  ordered  him  to  go  to  Venice, 
but  he  could  not  on  account  of  hostile  armies  lying  be- 


94 


THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 


tween.  So  he  went  to  Zurich.  As  soon  as  he  was  gone, 
the  Austrians  and  Spaniards  became  aggressive  against 
the  Grisons.  This  was  not  to  Richelieu's  liking,  so  he 
ordered  Rohan  back  again,  promising  to  aid  him.  Rohan 
had  greatly  enjoyed  his  visit  to  Zurich,  and  showed  his 
appreciation  of  her  kindness  by  presenting  her  with  a 
Bible,  which,  it  is  said,  she  still  delights  to  show  as  his 
gift. 

Meanwhile  the  Grisons  were  becoming  more  and  more 
dissatisfied  because  he  did  not  march  to  recapture  the 
Valtellina  for  them.  The  truth  was  that  he  wanted  to 
do  so  all  the  time,  and  especially  when  Gustavus  Adolphus 
approached  Switzerland  in  his  victorious  march.  But 
Richelieu  always  held  him  back.  Now,  however,  the 
dissatisfaction  became  so  great  that  something  had  to  be 
done.  He  repeatedly  wrote  to  Richelieu  for  money  and 
orders  to  recapture  the  Valtellina.  Then  he  was  recalled 
in  1634  to  Paris.  Just  at  that  time  occurred  an  event 
that  changed  the  whole  policy  of  the  French.  The 
Swedes  experienced  their  most  crushing  defeat  during 
that  war  at  Nordlingen.  France  now  became  energetic. 
He  was  ordered  back  from  Paris  to  the  Grisons  and  sent 
to  attack  the  Valtellina.  In  1635  he  retook  the  Valtellina 
in  four  splendid  victories.  Great  was  the  joy  of  the 
people  of  the  Grisons,  for  it  was  fifteen  years  since  they 
had  lost  it.  But  great  was  the  disappointment  of  the 
Reformed  when  it  was  found  that  France  forbade  the 
reintroduction  of  the  Reformed  religion,  even  though 
Rohan  favored  it  and  had  called  the  famous  preacher 
of  Geneva,  Theodore  Tronchin,  to  introduce  it.  And 
greater  still  was  the  disappointment  of  all  the  inhabitants 
of  the  Grisons  when  they  learned  that  France  would  not 
restore  the  Valtellina  to  them,  but  proposed  to  keep  it 
for  herself. 

So  the  joy  of  the  inhabitants  was  turned  to  hatred. 
They  grew  tired  of  French  rule  and  of  the  quartering 


THE  GRISONS  95 

of  French  soldiers  on  them.  Besides,  Richelieu  did  not 
send  enough  money  to  pay  the  soldiers,  and  they  became 
discontented.  This  discontent  was  increased  by  the 
rough  methods  of  the  new  French  ambassador,  Lasnier. 
Finally  the  breach  became  so  great  that  all  it  needed  was 
a  leader,  and,  as  generally  occurs,  the  hour  produced 
the  man.  Jenatsch,  formerly  the  Protestant  leader,  had 
become  a  Catholic  and  began  to  conspire  in  August,  1536. 
The  conspirators  chose  their  time  well,  for  Rohan  was 
south  of  the  Alps,  at  Sondrio,  in  the  Valtellina,  and  he 
was  sick,  so  sick  that  for  three  weeks  he  was  in  a  stupor, 
though  by  September  he  grew  stronger.  Meanwhile 
Jenatsch  had  gained  the  confidence  of  the  Grisons.  Rohan 
finally  had  himself  carried  over  the  Alps  to  Chur,  but 
it  was  too  late.  Jenatsch  had  gone  to  Innspruck  and 
made  an  alliance  with  the  Austrians  and  Spaniards,  who 
promised  to  return  the  Vatellina  to  the  Grisons,  the  very 
thing  that  France  refused  to  do.  Rohan,  warned  of 
danger,  sent  a  messenger  to  Paris  for  pay  for  his  troops, 
so  as  to  stop  the  disaffection.  Richelieu  sent  him  neither 
money  nor  help,  but  left  him  to  extricate  himself  as  best 
he  could. 

So,  as  France  did  not  send  money,  the  Grisons  rose 
in  rebellion,  March  19,  1637.  A  regiment  of  their  troops 
marched  from  Domschleg  against  Chur  and  surrounded 
Rohan's  house.  But  he  had  fled  the  previous  night  to 
the  Rhine  fortifications.  But  what  could  he  do  there 
with  his  few  soldiers?  The  hills  around  were  full  of 
enemies.  Jenatsch  had  shut  him  up.  The  Swiss  in  his 
army  would  not  fight  against  their  fellow-countrymen  of 
the  Grisons.  So,  as  he  heard  nothing  from  France,  he 
agreed,  March  26,  1637,  to  take  the  French  army  away 
and  return  the  Valtellina  to  the  Grisons.  But  then  came 
a  difficulty.  The  French  army  in  the  Valtellina  refused 
to  obey  Rohan's  orders  and  surrender.  Its  commander 
made  overtures  to  Rohan  to  throw  himself  into  Chur, 


96  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

capture  the  enemies,  including  Jenatsch,  and  save  the 
honor  of  France.  But  Rohan  refused  to  break  his  word 
to  the  Grisons.  He  left  Chur  May  5,  1637,  but  carrying 
with  him  the  kindest  wishes  of  the  people,  and  as  a  mark 
of  honor  many  of  the  prominent  men  walked  with  him 
to  the  borders  of  the  town.  For  he  was  the  idol  of  the 
people,  who  always  called  him  "the  good  duke,"  as  did 
his  soldiers,  to  whom  he  was  always  sympathetic  and 
kind.  Often  he  was  publicly  praised  from  the  pulpits 
of  the  canton  as  a  model  of  faithfulness  and  as  a  refuge 
of  persecuted  Protestants.  The  opposition  of  the  people 
was  to  France,  not  to  him  personally. 

Jenatsch  was  assassinated  January  14,  1539,  by  Ru- 
dolph Planta.*  Then  this  Planta  was  assassinated  in 
1640.  So  tragically  began  and  ended  the  Thirty  Years' 
war  in  the  Grisons  with  the  murder  of  a  Planta.  In  1641 
the  independence  of  the  Grisons  was  recognized  by 
Austria,  France  and  Spain. 

But  where  could  the  Duke  of  Rohan  go?  The  King 
of  France  ordered  him  to  return  to  Paris,  but  he  could 
not  think  of  doing  so,  for  he  knew  not  what  plots  might 
be  against  him  as  a  Huguenot.  He  therefore  went  to 
Zurich  and  then  to  Geneva,  where  he  stayed  till  the  fall 
of  1637.  There  he  wrote  his  "History  of  the  Valtellina." 
He  had  decided  to  make  Geneva  his  home,  only  he  was 
continually  dogged  there  by  French  spies.  Besides,  his 
old  war  fever  came  on  him,  so  he  determined  to  go  back 
to  military  service  again.  But  he  had  always  made  it 
a  rule  of  his  life  never  to  fight  against  his  native  land, 
France,  even  though  she  had  so  badly  treated  him.  So 
he  joined  the  German  and  Swedish  army  under  the  duke 
of  Weimar,  which  was  fighting  alongside  of  the  French 
against  Austria.  This  act  was  the  best  answer  he  could 
make  against  the  charge  of  treason  that  the  Catholics 

*  For  an  interesting  novel  see  "George  Jenatsch,"  by  Meyer. 


BASLE  97 

in  France  had  been  bringing  against  him.  On  February 
28,  1638,  he  was  wounded  in  the  battle  of  Rhinefelden 
and  was  taken  to  the  castle  of  Konigsfelden.  There  he 
suddenly  died,  April  13,  1638,  probably  poisoned  by  his 
physician,  for  the  Jesuits  were  finding  a  new  way  to  get 
rid  of  their  enemies — namely,  by  poison.  His  body  was 
taken  to  Geneva.  All  the  way  thither  the  people  revealed 
their  high  regard  for  him  and  their  great  sorrow  at  his 
loss.  He  was  buried  in  the  Reformed  cathedral  of 
Geneva,  St.  Peter's.  There  his  tomb  is  still  shown — the 
only  tomb  that  the  Puritanic  Calvinists,  in  their  opposition 
to  any  monuments  in  the  church,  allowed  to  be  placed 
in  that  church. 

Section  4 

the  freedom  of  switzerland  and  john  rudolph 
wettstein 

One  of  the  greatest  boons  that  ever  came  to  Switzer- 
land came  at  the  end  of  the  Thirty  Years'  War,  for  at 
the  peace  of  Westphalia  (1648)  the  Emperor  of  Germany 
renounced  all  jurisdiction  over  Switzerland.  The  Swiss 
thus  gained  by  diplomacy  what  they  probably  could  not 
have  gained  by  war.  And  this  great  victory  was  due 
to  the  distinguished  councillor  of  Basle,  John  Rudolph 
Wettstein,  who  was  the  deputy  of  Switzerland  to  the 
negotiations  that  closed  the  Thirty  Years'  War.  For  the 
Swiss  Diet  saw  its  opportunity.  The  Emperor  of  Ger- 
many, at  the  close  of  that  war,  was  in  such  straits  that 
that  was  the  psychological  moment  in  which  to  press 
their  demand  for  liberty  upon  him.  Wettstein  arrived  at 
Miinster,  Germany,  where  the  negotiations  were  pending, 
December  18,  1646.  His  actions  were  in  marked  contrast 
with  the  ambassadors  of  other  lands.  Over  against  their 
pomp  he  lived  in  simplicity.  He  received  no  pay,  but 
lived  at  his  own  expense.  Yet  the  German  and  French 
7 


98       THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

ambassadors  were  delighted  to  entertain  him.  These  in- 
vitations he  accepted,  hoping  thereby  to  gain  something 
for  his  country.  Indeed,  he  obtained  so  many  concessions 
that  he  was  called  by  them  "king  of  the  Swiss."  Amid 
all  the  intrigues  between  France,  Sweden,  Germany,  Aus- 
tria and  Spain,  he  walked  carefully,  ever  having  in  view 
the  freedom  of  his  land  and  the  integrity  of  Switzerland. 
His  outspoken  diplomacy,  in  contrast  with  the  double-deal- 
ing of  others,  won  him  respect,  and  finally  gave  him  the 
victory.  For  he  possessed  great  knowledge  of  human 
nature  and  also  great  aptitude  for  diplomacy,  and  with 
it  great  perseverance  and  patience  in  gaining  his  end.  He 
would  play  one  nation  over  against  another  until  he  got 
what  he  wanted.  He  left  Miinster  November  n,  1647, 
glad  to  get  away  from  what  to  him  seemed  like  a  prison. 
The  joy  in  Switzerland  over  this  was  indescribable. 
The  peace  of  Westphalia  was  read  publicly  in  all  parts 
of  Switzerland  to  the  beating  of  drums  and  the  blowing 
of  trumpets.  Liberty  begun  at  the  Rtitli  in  1307  was  now 
completed  nearly  three  and  a  half  centuries  later.  Wett- 
stein  has  come  down  in  history  as  one  of  the  greatest 
statesmen  and  most  distinguished  benefactors  Switzerland 
has  produced. 


CHAPTER  III 
Dangers  after  the  Thirty  Years  War 

Section  i 
the  two  battles  of  vilmergen 

It  is  somewhat  remarkable  that  the  two  decisive  bat- 
tles between  Swiss  should  be  fought  at  the  same  place, 
though  in  different  centuries.  In  the  first  battle  of  Vil- 
mergen  the  Catholics  were  victorious;  in  the  second,  the 
Protestants.  They  reveal  the  long  continued  rivalry  and 
jealousy  of  the  Protestants  and  Catholics  in  Switzerland. 

The  immediate  cause  of  the  first  battle  of  Vilmergen 
was  the  persecution  of  the  Nicodemites  (of  which  we 
will  speak  in  the  next  part).  But  this  would  not  have 
led  to  war  if  the  relations  of  Protestants  and  Catholics 
had  not  before  been  strained.  In  this  war  the  two 
Protestant  cantons,  Zurich  and  Bern,  sent  their  armies 
separately.  This  was  their  mistake.  The  Zurich  army, 
under  General  Werdmuller,  attacked  the  strongly  forti- 
fied Catholic  town,  on  Lake  Zurich,  of  Rapperschwyl. 
Its  citizens  mocked  at  his  name  (which  meant  "green 
miller"),  by  saying  "the  Madonna  (of  Rapperschwyl) 
laughs  at  the  green-miller  who  wooes  her."  He  was 
compelled  to  raise  the  siege  with  considerable  loss.  The 
Bern  army  had  even  worse  luck,  for  it  (12,000  strong) 
was  surprised  June  14,  1656,  by  the  Lucerne  army  (4,000 
in  number)  at  Vilmergen,  and  defeated  with  great  loss. 
The  war  was  closed  by  the  peace  of  Baden,  which  gave 
the  Catholic  cantons  certain  advantages.  Thus,  in  this 
strife  between  Catholics  and  Protestants,  the  Catholics 

99 


IOO  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

had  now  gained  two  wars:  one  at  Cappel,  1531,  and 
the  other  at  Vilmergen,  1656. 

But  what  was  lost  to  the  Protestants  at  the  first 
battle  of  Vilmergen  was  more  than  made  up  by  the  sec- 
ond battle.  This  war  is  sometimes  called  the  Toggen- 
burg  war,  because  it  mainly  concerned  the  Toggenburg 
district. 

This  district,  on  the  southern  slope  of  Mt.  Sentis, 
had  been  a  sort  of  storm-center  ever  since  the  war  of 
Cappel  (1531)  had  placed  it  under  the  control  of  the 
Catholic  abbot  of  St.  Gall,  for  it  was  strongly  Protestant, 
having  been  Zwingli's  birthplace.  Already  we  have  noted 
that  when  the  abbot  of  St.  Gall  persecuted  the  Protes- 
tants and  forbade  them  to  sing  psalms,  they  appealed 
to  Zurich,  and  gained  their  rights.  Zwingli's  birthplace, 
Wildhaus,  was  one  of  the  places  where  the  strife  was 
the  most  bitter.  The  Protestants  were  compelled  to  al- 
low Catholic  worship  in  their  churches.  This  led  to  a 
peculiar  controversy.  In  northeastern  Switzerland  there 
are  no  altars  in  Protestant  churches — nothing  but  a  font. 
And  the  font,  when  unused,  is  covered  by  a  peaked 
wooden  lid.  The  Catholics'  service  centered  about  the 
altar;  but  they  could  find  no  altar  in  these  churches  ex- 
cept this  covered  font.  And  yet  the  pyx*  would  fall  off 
of  the  peaked  cover  of  the  font ;  so  they  brought  the 
altar  in.  This  produced  trouble,  for  altars  are  not  Prot- 
estant. In  1617  the  Protestants  at  Wildhaus  brought 
in  a  new  font  by  night  and  placed  it  in  front  of  the 
Catholic  altar.  But  as  they  had  not  gotten  permission 
of  the  Catholics  to  do  this,  a  bitter  controversy  grew 
out  of  it,  which  was  finally  settled  by  the  Reformed  hav- 
ing to  pay  a  fine  of  5,000  florins,  which  only  embittered 
them  the  more. 

The  abbot  of  St.  Gall  not  merely  oppressed  the  Prot- 

*  The  vessel  in  which  they  kept  the  Holy  Eucharist. 


THE  BATTLE  OF  VILMERGEN  ioi 

estants  in  the  Toggenburg  district,  but  also  those  in  his 
city  of  St.  Gall.  At  St.  Gall  the  abbey  and  city  are  aside 
of  each  other,  the  one  Catholic,  the  other  Protestant. 
The  abbot  began  sending  religious  processions  through 
the  city  bearing  the  cross  of  the  abbey.  At  this  the 
citizens  flew  to  arms,  closed  the  gates  of  the  city  and 
manned  the  walls.  Finally  a  truce  was  arranged  and 
the  processions  were  no  longer  permitted. 

But  after  the  Thirty  Years  War  there  was  a  rising 
of  Catholic  consciousness,  which  was  intensified  by  their 
victory  at  Vilmergen,  in  1656.  Their  aggressiveness  led 
to  strained  relations  with  the  Protestants.  Then  the 
Toggenburg  gave  the  immediate  cause  for  the  war.  The 
abbot  of  St.  Gall  had  been  greatly  oppressing  the  Prot- 
estants there,  forbidding  their  catechization,  compelling 
Reformed  ministers  to  greet  the  virgin  after  services, 
and  to  bow  when  Catholic  processions  and  relics  passed 
by.  Church  visitation  in  the  name  of  the  Reformed 
synod  was  forbidden.  The  Catholics  distributed  books 
attacking  Protestants,  but  would  allow  no  replies  to  be 
made  or  distributed.  Finally,  the  Reformed  went  to 
Zurich  and  Bern  with  their  complaints.  These  held  a 
conference  February,  1707,  and  sent  an  embassy  to  St. 
Gall.  Later  the  abbot  began  to  garrison  his  castle  in 
the  Toggenburg  with  Catholic  soldiers.  This  the  in- 
habitants could  not  stand,  and  they  rose,  May,  17 10, 
attacked  the  abbot's  castle  and  captured  some  of  his  can- 
non. After  some  negotiations,  Bern  and  Zurich  sent  an 
ultimatum  April  12,  1712.  On  April  28,  the  five  Catholic 
cantons  declared  war  against  Zurich  and  Bern  and  took 
possession  of  Thurgau  and  St.  Gall.  These  troops  were 
aided  with  gold  from  the  papal  nuncio  and  encouraged 
by  consecrated  bullets  and  blest  amulets  freely  distributed 
among  them  as  a  protection  against  death.  The  Bernese 
army  gained  a  victory  at  Bremgarten  and  besieged 
Baden,  and  then  the  final  battle  took  place  at  Vilmergen, 


I02  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

July  25,  1 7 12,  when  8,000  Bernese  troops  faced  10,000 
Lucerne  soldiers.  For  ten  hours  they  fought,  and  it 
looked  as  if  victory  would  perch  on  the  Catholic  arms. 
But  General  Duval,  of  the  Bernese  army,  by  a  maneuvre, 
separated  one  division  of  the  Catholic  army  from  the 
main  body.  This  threw  the  Catholic  army  into  confu- 
sion and,  in  spite  of  their  blessed  bullets  and  amulets, 
they  were  defeated.  By  September  12,  1712,  peace  was 
declared. 

If  the  former  battle  of  Vilmergen  had  given  the  Cath- 
olics the  prestige,  this  battle  gave  the  prestige  to  the 
Protestants.  It  guaranteed  religious  liberty  to  both 
Catholics  and  Protestants,  for  Catholics  had  always  op- 
posed religious  liberty  in  their  cantons.  It  gave  the  con- 
trol of  certain  districts  as  Thurgau,  Sargans,  the  Rhine 
valley  and  Baden  to  the  Protestants.  No  wonder  that 
the  peace  was  disapproved  by  the  pope,  who  declared 
it  null  and  void ;  and  only  revealed  his  utter  weakness 
in  doing  so,  for  his  opposition  had  no  effect.  But  he 
had  to  withdraw  the  papal  nuncio  from  Switzerland,  and 
this  was  a  great  relief  to  the  Protestants,  for  the  nuncio 
had  been  the  cause  of  a  great  deal  of  strife.  The  abbot 
of  St.  Gall  also  refused  to  recognize  the  peace  and  died 
in  self -banishment ;  but  his  successors  finally  found  it 
best  to  accept  the  situation  and  return  to  the  possession 
of  the  abbey.  This  battle  was  the  signal  for  the  be- 
ginning of  the  decay  of  the  Catholic  party  in  Switzer- 
land. After  this  there  was  only  one  more  war  between 
Catholics  and  Protestants,  and  that  occurred,  as  we  shall 
see,  in  the  nineteenth  century. 

Section  2 

the  succession  in  neuchatel 

Neuchatel  did  not  become  a  member  of  the  Swiss  con- 
federacy until  the  nineteenth  century.     She  was  not  a 


NEUCHATEL  1 03 

republic  like  Switzerland,  but  a  duchy,  and  had  been 
ruled  by  the  French  line  of  nobles  of  the  Orleans-Lon- 
gueville  family.  The  last  of  these,  the  widowed  countess 
of  Nemours,  died  June  16,  1707.  This  produced  a  dan- 
gerous crisis.  Before  this,  at  the  death  of  her  mother, 
the  French  king  had  wanted  to  place  a  French  prince, 
the  Prince  of  Conti,  on  the  throne,  and  had  virtually 
taken  possession  of  the  province.  But  Bern  interfered, 
although  the  neighboring  Catholic  cantons  of  Freiburg 
and  Solothurn  were  favorable.  After  years  of  nego- 
tiations, the  Duchess  of  Nemours  was  finally  chosen, 
1699.  But,  at  her  death,  the  whole  question  was 
opened  up  again.  Fortunately,  by  this  time,  the  ambi- 
tious French  king,  Louis  XIV,  had  died,  and  his  succes- 
sor was  less  aggressive.  Still,  the  important  question 
was  not  whether  a  French  prince  would  rule  or  not,  but 
whether  the  next  ruler  would  be  a  Catholic  or  a  Prot- 
estant, for  the  people  of  Neuchatel  were  Reformed  in 
religion.  There  were  not  less  than  fifteen  aspirants  to 
the  throne  and,  of  course,  many  were  the  intrigues. 
France  wanted  it  for  the  Prince  of  Conti.  England  sup- 
ported the  King  of  Prussia,  as  did  the  Emperor  of  Ger- 
many. For,  although  the  Emperor  was  a  Catholic,  and 
the  King  of  Prussia  a  Protestant,  yet  the  former  did 
not  want  France  to  gain  the  control  of  Neuchatel,  and 
so  he  favored  the  King  of  Prussia  as  the  most  likely 
candidate  to  win.  Fortunately,  the  commission  of  the 
state  which  had  assumed  control  at  the  death  of  the 
duchess  had  determined  that,  no  matter  who  became  the 
ruler,  the  rights  of  the  Protestants  must  be  guaranteed. 
But  the  day  of  the  election,  November  3,  1707,  was  one 
of  great  anxiety  to  Neuchatel  and  of  great  excitement 
in  Switzerland.  It  resulted,  thanks  mainly  to  the  efforts 
of  the  Bernese  magistrate,  Senner,  in  the  election  of  the 
King  of  Prussia.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Reformed 
Church  and,  therefore,  acceptable  to  the  Reformed  of 


104  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

Neuchatel. 

Thus  the  Protestants  gained  entire  control  over 
another  district  which  had  long  been  headed  by  a  Cath- 
olic, and  this  election  prepared  for  what  ultimately  took 
place,  the  incorporation  of  Neuchatel  as  one  of  the  can- 
tons of  Switzerland.  For,  in  1815,  Neuchatel  was  in- 
corporated by  the  congress  of  Vienna  in  the  Swiss  con- 
federacy; but  the  King  of  Prussia  still  claimed  it,  and 
it  was  given  to  him.  But  there  were  two  parties  in  the 
canton — a  royalist  and  a  republican.  Finally  a  republic 
can  uprising  occurred,  in  1856,  which  captured  Neu- 
chatel. The  King  of  Prussia  then  threatened  to  send 
an  army  of  30,000  men  into  Neuchatel.  The  Swiss  con- 
federacy prepared  for  war  in  order  to  resist  them.  But, 
through  the  mediation  of  Emperor  Louis  Napoleon  of 
France,  war  was  prevented,  and  Prussia  guaranteed  the 
freedom  of  Neuchatel,  and  Neuchatel  is  now  a  full  mem- 
ber of  the  Swiss  confederacy. 


PART  IV 


THE  REFUGEES  IN  SWITZERLAND 

The  Protestant  refugees  who  came  to  Switzerland 
from  other  lands,  as  France  and  Italy,  did  much  to  con- 
solidate the  Reformed  Church  there.  The  blood  of  the 
martyrs  is  the  seed  of  the  Church.  Wherever  they  set- 
tled they  brought  prosperity  and  blessing.  Especially 
do  Zurich  and  Geneva  owe  their  present  commercial 
prominence  to  the  refugees  they  received.  While,  on 
the  other  hand,  the  Catholic  cantons  and  lands  who  drove 
out  such  valuable  citizens  suffered  irretrievably  for  it. 
This  subject  divides  itself  into  two  parts: 

i.  The  refugees  from  Catholic  cantons  in  Switzer- 
land. 

2.     The  refugees  from  other  countries. 


105 


CHAPTER  I 

The  Refugees  from  the  Catholic  Cantons  in 
Switzerland 

The  Catholic  cantons,  as  we  have  seen,  as  the  result 
of  the  Borromean  league  and  up  to  the  second  battle  of 
Vilmergen,  drove  out  all  Protestants  from  their  borders 
and  refused  all  religious  liberty.  Of  course,  they  were 
the  sufferers  by  it,  and  the  Protestant  cantons  who  re- 
ceived these  refugees,  the  gainers ;  because,  usually,  these 
refugees  were  the  most  progressive  and  enlightened  of 
their  people. 

Section  i 

the  refugees  from  locarno* 

Locarno  is  situated  on  the  northwestern  shore  of 
Lake  Maggiore  in  southern  Switzerland.  In  1546,  John 
Beccaria,  formerly  a  barefooted  monk,  but  now  a  Prot- 
estant, settled  there  and  opened  a  school.  As  a  result, 
some  of  the  leading  families  were  won  to  Protestantism, 
and,  four  years  later,  there  were  nearly  two  hundred 
Protestants,  some  of  whom  were  refugees  from  Italy  for 
their  Protestant  faith.  The  Catholics,  alarmed  at  their 
progress,  brought  charges  against  them.  Beccaria  was 
ordered  to  leave.  But  he  went  to  the  Swiss  diet  and  so 
eloquently  defended  himself  that  the  decree  of  banish- 
ment was  lifted.  Then  the  magistrate  at  Locarno  threw 
him  into  prison  and  forced  him  to  leave.  He  went 
through   the   Protestant  cantons  pleading   for  help    for 

*  See  Meyer  "Die  Evangelische  Gemeinde  in  Locarno,"  1836. 
107 


108  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

Locarno.  He  was  received  as  a  member  into  the  Reformed 
synod  of  the  canton  of  the  Grisons.  This  gave  him 
official  standing,  and  he  was  sent  by  them  as  pastor  to 
Misox  in  the  Bernardino  Valley,  south  of  the  Alps,  not 
far  from  Locarno.  There  he  opened  a  school,  and  the 
Protestants  of  Locarno  and  of  the  region  around  sent 
their  children  to  him.  But  after  five  years  (1555)  he 
was  compelled  to  leave  by  the  Catholics,  who  were  in 
the  majority  in  that  part  of  the  Grisons,  and  he  went 
to  Zurich. 

Meanwhile  the  Catholics  were  continually  plotting 
against  the  Protestants  at  Locarno.  They  got  the  Swiss 
diet  (1554)  to  order  all  to  go  to  confession  in  Lent, 
1554,  and  they  spread  rumors  abroad  that  the  Protes- 
tants there  were  heterodox  and  Anabaptists.  So  the 
Locarno  congregation  drew  up  a  confession  of  their  faith, 
which  showed  they  were  orthodox,  and  sent  it  to  Zurich. 
Finally  the  arbiters  appointed  by  the  Swiss  diet  ordered 
them  either  to  become  Catholics  or  to  leave.  Fortunately, 
the  magistrate  for  that  year  at  Locarno*  was  from 
Zurich,  and  he  protected  them  as  much  as  he  could.  But 
the  seven  Catholic  cantons  sent  deputies  across  the  Alps, 
in  winter,  to  see  that  the  order  of  the  Swiss  diet  was 
obeyed.  The  Protestants,  150-200  in  number,  were  or- 
dered to  appear  at  the  council-house  and  hear  their  de- 
cree of  banishment,  in  winter.  When  its  reading  was 
finished,  the  papal  nuncio  entered  and  protested  against 
the  clemency  of  the  sentence,  and  asked  that  their  goods 
be  confiscated  and  their  children  left  at  Locarno  to  be 
reared  as  Catholics.  But  the  Catholic  deputies  were 
more  humane  than  the  Catholic  Church,  and  refused 
their  request.  So  the  Protestants  were  ordered  to  leave 
March  3,  1555,  a  most  brutal  order,  because  it  drove 
them  out  into  the  Alpine  winter  when  the  passes  were 

*  The  magistrates  of  Locarno  were  sent  there  from  the  differ- 
ent Swiss  cantons  in  turn. 


THE  REFUGEES  109 

not  yet  open,  for  the  passes  of  the  Alps  do  not  open 
till  June.  Even  over  the  easiest  pass  for  them,  the  St. 
Gothard,  they  were  forbidden  to  go.  So  ninety-three 
of  them  started,  followed  later  by  others,  and  went  to 
the  first  town  in  the  St.  Bernardino  pass,  Roveredo,  in 
the  canton  of  the  Grisons.  There  they  remained  for 
two  months,  till  the  thaw  began  to  open  the  St.  Ber- 
nardino pass.  In  May  they  took  their  wives  and  chil- 
dren over  this  pass,  through  deep  snow,  to  Chur,  the 
capital  of  the  Grisons.  Some  remained  there,  but  more 
than  a  hundred  went  on  to  Zurich,  where  most  of  them 
settled.  They  brought  with  them  the  silk  industry  to 
which  Zurich  owes  her  present  commercial  supremacy 
in  Switzerland.  Some  of  the  most  prominent  families 
there,  as  the  Orelli,  Pestalozzi  and  Muralt  families,  are 
descendants  of  this  immigration.  Beccaria  was  offered 
the  pastorate  of  the  Italian  Church  at  Zurich,  but  de- 
clined, and  it  was  given  to  Ochino. 

Section  2 
the  nicodemites 

The  canton  of  Schwyz  has  remained  fanatically  at- 
tached to  the  Catholics,  but  ever  since  the  days  of 
Zwingli,  at  Einsedeln  (1516-18),  an  Evangelical  element, 
especially  of  the  family  of  Hospenthal,  had  found  a 
lodgment  at  Arth,  on  the  northern  side  of  the  Rigi 
mountain.  These  secretly  passed  the  Evangelical  faith 
from  generation  to  generation.  They  were  called  Evan- 
gelical Nicodemites,  because,  like  Nicodemus,  they  were 
secret  disciples.  They  did  not  publicly  separate  from 
the  Catholic  Church,  Schwyz  would  not  have  permitted 
that,  but  their  contempt  for  the  mass  repeatedly  exposed 
them  to  fines.  They  would  meet  at  night  for  prayer 
in  a  lonely  house  called  the  "Bees  Court." 

A  zealous  Reformed  minister  of  Zurich  canton  one 


IIO  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

day  met  one  of  these  young  Nicodemites,  who  confessed 
that  he  secretly  read  the  Bible.  This  pastor  then  se- 
cretly met  some  of  them  in  a  cow-keeper's  hut  on  the 
Rigi.  The  Catholics  heard  of  this  and  cunningly  ex- 
amined them,  at  which  time  they,  in  their  simple-heart- 
edness, betrayed  themselves.  This  alarmed  the  Cath- 
olics, and  they  held  a  secret  meeting  in  the  Catholic 
cloister  at  Schwyz  to  consider  how  they  might  stamp 
out  this  heresy.  This  meeting  became  known  to  the 
Nicodemites,  as  some  of  their  relatives  hastened  to  give 
them  timely  warning,  and  said,  "Avert  danger  to  your- 
selves and  disgrace  to  your  families.  Run  and  pros- 
trate yourselves  before  the  nearest  cross.  Confess  to 
the  priest  and  bring  some  good  cream  to  the  good  father 
(the  priest)."  The  Nicodemites  did  not  seem  to  have 
great  faith  in  the  good  father  referred  to,  for  seven 
of  them  fled  with  their  families  (in  all  thirty-seven  per- 
sons) to  Zurich,  on  the  night  of  September  11-12,  1655, 
by  taking  boat  to  Zug,  and  then  going  to  Cappel.  They 
were  very  cordially  received  at  Zurich,  who  negotiated 
with  the  canton  of  Schwyz  to  get  the  property  they  left 
behind  them,  but  in  vain. 

As  soon  as  their  flight  was  known,  the  other  Nico- 
demites, twenty  in  number,  were  arrested.  As  they 
would  not  forswear  their  faith,  three  men  and  a  woman 
were  put  to  death,  and  the  rest  sent  to  Milan  to  the 
inquisition.  In  all,  it  is  said,  seventeen  persons  were 
put  to  death.  Among  the  prisoners  was  Barbara  von 
Hospenthal,  an  aged  and  rich  widow,  who,  like  the  pious 
Tabitha,  had  made  herself  beloved  throughout  the  coun- 
try by  her  many  acts  of  benevolence.  On  the  way  to 
prison  she  met  a  group  of  children  by  whom  she  had 
always  been  looked  up  to  as  a  mother,  and  they  were 
melted  into  tears.  "Fear  not,"  she  said,  "fear  not,  for 
the  way  I  am  going  is  the  way  to  heaven."  A  number 
of  them  were  tortured.     When  Martin  von  Hospenthal 


THE  REFUGEES  1 1 1 

was  urged  by  the  Catholics  to  confess  the  true  faith, 
he  replied  that  he  would  do  so  in  the  midst  of  tortures 
as  he  had  done  all  his  life.  These  unfortunate  persecu- 
tions of  Swiss  by  Swiss  prepared  the  way  for  the  war 
which  led  to  the  first  battle  of  Vilmergen  (1656),  which 
we  have  before  described. 


CHAPTER  II 

The  Foreign  Refugees 

We  pass  over  the  English  refugees  who  came  to 
Switzerland  in  the  Reformation  and  soon  went  back  to 
England,*  as  it  occurred  too  early  for  our  period.  There 
was  also  a  large  emigration  from  Germany  during  the 
Thirty  Years'  War,  especially  from  the  Palatinate  and 
Wurtemberg,  when  the  Swiss  welcomed  Lutherans  as 
well  as  Reformed.  But  that  emigration  was  so  scat- 
tered that  it  is  impossible  to  describe  it,  except  to  call 
attention  to  the  fact  that  many  Reformed  ministers 
driven  out  of  the  Palatinate  found  an  asylum  in 
Switzerland. 

Section  i 
the  refugees  from  francet 

When  the  terrible  persecution  broke  over  France, 
Switzerland,  as  her  nearest  neighbor,  received  most  of 
the  refugees.  There  were  two  main  periods  when  the 
refugees  came;  first,  after  the  massacre  of  St.  Bartholo- 
mew (1572),  and,  again,  after  the  Revocation  of  the 
Edict  of  Nantes  (1685).  But  it  might  be  said  that  there 
was  an  almost  continuous  emigration  from  France, 
though  often  hardly  perceptible,  for  several  centuries. 

Even  before  the  massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew  many 

*  See  Vedder's  "Relations  Between  England  and  Zurich  Dur- 
ing the  Reformation,"  also  "Zurich  Letters,"  Cambridge,  1842-45. 

t  See  Morikofer's  "Geschichte  der  Evangelischen  Flucht- 
linge  in  der  Schweiz,"  also  Comba's  "Les  Refugies  de  la  Revo- 
cation en  Suisse,"  1885. 

112 


THE  REFUGEES  113 

refugees  had  arrived  in  Switzerland.  Farel  and  Calvin 
had  come  and  started  the  Reformation  in  French  Switzer- 
land. Among  the  early  refugees  were  men  of  promi- 
nence, as  Robert  Stephen,  the  printer  of  King  Francis  I 
of  France,  driven  out  by  the  opposition  of  the  Sorbonne 
because  of  his  publication  of  the  Bible.  His  son,  Henry, 
became  the  great  publisher  of  the  classics.  The  Elzevirs, 
the  great  printers  of  Geneva,  were  also  refugees.  Just 
before  the  massacre  many  came  because  of  the  persecu- 
tions in  France.  They  generally  went  to  Geneva,  but 
Bern  utilized  many  of  them  to  fill  up  the  district  of 
Vaud,  which  she  had  recently  captured  from  the  Duke 
of  Savoy.  She  wanted  to  make  Vaud  a  buffer  state 
against  Savoy  and  so  replaced  the  Catholic  population 
there  by  these  French  refugees. 

After  the  massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew  (1572),  a 
great  crowd  of  refugees  arrived.  Geneva  received  the 
most  of  them,  many  being  persons  of  prominence.  The 
most  prominent  were  the  members  of  the  family  of  Ad- 
miral Coligny,  who  had  been  martyred  at  Paris  in  that 
massacre.  They  were  his  widow,  Louisa  Teligny,  and 
his  two  sons,  the  latter  having  escaped  from  France  by 
way  of  Miilhausen.  Bern,  where  they  arrived  October 
13,  1572,  was  especially  kind  to  this  family,  supporting 
them  and  sending  an  ambassador  to  France  to  get  their 
property  back  to  them.  They  lived  three  years  at  Bern, 
and  were  the  guests  of  many  of  the  prominent  families 
there  before  they  returned  to  France.  The  number  of 
refugees  arriving  after  this  massacre  was  so  great  that 
the  "French  bourse"  was  founded  at  Geneva,  which 
aimed  to  take  care  of  the  refugees.  It  did  a  splendid 
work.  By  1640  the  capital  of  this  bourse  had  increased 
to  60,172  florins,  and  there  was  an  annual  disbursement 
of  8,000  florins.  The  enthronement  of  Henry  of  Na- 
varre as  king  of  France,  which  gave  toleration  to  the 
Huguenots,  then  checked  the  immigration  into  Switzer- 


H4 


THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 


land  for  a  time. 

But  it  was  the  Revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes, 
October  18,  1685,  that  brought  the  largest  immigration 
into  Switzerland.  Most  of  them  came  by  way  of  Geneva 
as  the  most  accessible  way  of  escape  from  France.  In 
this,  two  of  the  villages  of  the  canton  of  Geneva,  Avully 
and  Cartigny,  were  especially  active.  The  fleeing  Hu- 
guenots would  wait  till  night  in  order  to  pass  over  the 
last  part  of  Gex.  When  they  got  to  the  river  Rhone, 
they  would  give  the  Genevese  the  signal.  Soon,  from 
the  other  side  of  the  river,  a  torch  revealed  the  Genevese 
as  putting  off  a  boat  into  the  river.  This  soon  brought 
the  refugees  to  the  Genevan  shore,  where  they  fell  on 
their  knees  in  thanksgiving,  singing  and  praying  to  God. 
The  King  of  France,  Louis  XIV,  was  so  incensed  at 
the  way  in  which  Geneva  saved  so  many  of  the  Hugue- 
nots, that  he  threatened  her.  So  a  number  of  the  refu- 
gees were  sent  on  to  Bern,  which  had  also  established 
a  bourse  like  that  at  Geneva.  The  Genevese,  fearing 
the  French  king,  sent  an  ambassador,  January,  1586,  to 
the  Evangelical  cantons.  They  declared  themselves 
ready  to  aid  and  defend  Geneva,  if  necessary.  And 
these  cantons  sent  an  embassy  to  Louis  XIV,  so  that 
he  became  more  favorably  inclined. 

The  amount  of  money  raised  in  Switzerland  for  the 
refugees  was  quite  large.  During  forty  years  after  the 
Revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes  Geneva  raised  five 
millions  of  francs.  In  1674  Geneva  came  before  the 
Evangelical  cantons,  asking  for  30,000  thalers  for  the 
refugees,  and  most  of  it  was  raised.  In  1683  the  Evan- 
gelical cantons  laid  yearly  taxes  for  the  refugees,  the 
allotment  being,  Zurich,  30  per  cent.;  Bern,  50;  Basle,  12, 
and  Schaffhausen,  8.  Later,  the  taxes  were  also  alloted 
among  other  Protestant  districts  in  Switzerland,  at  St. 
Gall,  Appenzell,  etc.  Zurich,  from  1685  till  the  middle 
of  the  next  century,  kept,  for  a  longer  or  shorter  time, 


THE  REFUGEES  115 

50,000  refugees,  either  Huguenot  or  Palatine,  and  paid 
300,000  gulden.  Bern,  together  with  Vaud,  raised  four 
million  florins.  Schaffhausen,  from  1683- 1700,  raised 
40,000  gulden.  And  while  such  large  sums  were  raised, 
it  is  not  to  be  forgotten  that  the  greatest  burden  lay  on 
private  families,  who  not  only  paid  their  share  of  this 
tax  for  the  refugees,  but  also  took  them  into  their  own 
homes.  Many  of  the  French  nobly  tried  to  pay  back 
what  had  been  raised  for  them.  Thus,  Stephen  Royat, 
in  1740,  gave  20,000  florins  to  the  treasury  of  Geneva 
in  repayment  for  what  Geneva  had  done  for  him.  "All 
this,"  says  Hadorn,  one  of  the  latest  historians  of  the 
Swiss  Church,  "was  done  in  the  days  of  orthodoxy. 
Verily,  a  faith  that  can  do  this  is  not  dead  orthodoxy." 
The  emigration  from  France  did  not,  however,  stop 
with  those  fleeing  from  the  Revocation  of  the  Edict  of 
Nantes.  In  1703,  2,000  more  came  from  the  province 
of  Orange.  Thus,  in  1713,  Rev.  Mr.  Calendrini  informed 
the  magistrates  of  Geneva  that  136  confessors  who  had 
been  sent  to  the  galleys  for  the  Reformed  religion  had 
been  liberated  at  Marseilles  and  would  arrive  at  Geneva. 
The  bourse  spent  108,000  florins  on  them.  When  they 
came  to  Geneva  the  citizens  pressed  hard  on  them,  closely 
scanning  their  faces,  to  find  among  them  their  parents, 
from  whom  they  had  been  separated  fifteen  or  twenty 
years.  The  emotion  could  not  be  described  when  father 
found  wife  and  children  in  Geneva,  and  praised  God  for 
their  deliverance.  These  galley  slaves  then  examined 
the  lists  of  those  who  had  been  aided  by  the  bourse,  and 
they  sang  hymns  as  they  read  the  names  of  their  wives 
and  children,  who  either  were  living  in  Geneva  or  had 
been  sent  on  to  Germany.  If  their  families  were  in 
Germany,  Geneva  aided  them  to  go  there.  The  number 
of  such  galley-slaves  received  at  Geneva,   1713-14,  was 

565. 

It  is  said  that  in  all  about  60,000  (some  say  100,000) 


Il6  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

Huguenots  found  an  asylum  in  Switzerland,  many  of 
them,  however,  going  farther  on  into  Germany  and  Hol- 
land. Thus,  of  the  60,000  who  crossed  French  Switzer- 
land, 4,000  found  a  home  in  Geneva.  In  1700,  out  of 
300  persons  who  had  citizenship  in  Geneva,  hardly  50 
had  been  there  before  the  Reformation,  the  great  majority 
being  descendants  of  refugees,  some  Italian,  but  mainly 
French.  These  refugees  made  Geneva  a  new  city  and 
also  Vaud  a  new  district.  But  Switzerland  was  amply 
repaid  for  the  labor  and  money  she  had  given  them. 
They  became  her  best  citizens.  They  brought  her  new 
industries.  Thus  at  Geneva  there  were  80  goldsmiths 
with  200  workmen.  The  silk  factories  and  the  lace 
works  had  2,000  laborers.  Another  great  industry  they 
brought  was  watchmaking.  In  1685  there  were  100 
master  workmen  there,  with  300  workmen.  A  hundred 
years  later  these  industries  employed  6,000  workmen.  In 
a  word,  they  made  Switzerland  one  of  the  great  manu- 
facturing countries  of  Europe.  The  blood  of  the  martyrs 
is  the  seed  of  the  nation  as  well  as  of  the  Church. 

Section  2 
theodore  agrippa  d'aubigne 

The  two  most  prominent  Huguenots  who  came  to 
Switzerland  were  the  Duke  Henry  of  Rohan,  of  whom 
we  have  already  spoken,  and  Theodore  Agrippa  D'Au- 
bigne. 

Theodore  Agrippa  D'Aubigne  was  born  February  8, 
1552,  near  Pons,  France.  He  lost  his  mother  at  birth. 
He  soon  revealed  great  ability,  speaking  three  languages 
at  the  age  of  six,  Latin,  Greek  and  Hebrew,  and  trans- 
lating the  Crito  of  Plato  before  he  was  eight.  At  the 
age  of  ten  he  was  made  prisoner  by  the  Catholics,  and 
was  threatened  to  be  burned  to  death  at  the  stake,  but 
escaped  as  by  a  miracle.     At  eleven  his  father  showed 


THE  REFUGEES  117 

him  the  withered  heads  of  the  Huguenots  hung  up  in  the 
city  of  Amboise,  and  told  him  to  follow  his  example 
and  not  be  sparing  of  his  life  to  avenge  those  Huguenot 
chiefs;  and  that  if  he  did  not  act  so,  a  parent's  curse 
would  rest  upon  him.  That  scene  proved  to  be  the  key- 
note of  his  life,  whether  in  war  or  literature.  He  became 
the  bitter  Huguenot.  At  the  age  of  fourteen  he  was 
sent  to  the  University  of  Geneva  to  study  under  Beza. 
His  guardian  wanted  to  keep  him  at  school.  But  he 
had  the  spirit  of  the  warrior  and  could  ill  brook  the  con- 
finement of  study  when  the  air  was  full  of  battles.  So 
at  the  age  of  seventeen,  clad  in  a  shirt,  he  escaped  at 
midnight  from  his  preceptor  and  ran  to  join  the  Hugue- 
not army.  To  the  Huguenots  he  gave  more  than  sixty 
years  of  his  life.  Thirty  of  them  he  fought  without  cessa- 
tion. Then  he  wrote  for  thirty  years,  and  the  new  literary 
combat  was  a  continuation  of  the  old.  He  would  prob- 
ably have  been  killed  in  the  massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew, 
but  a  duel  had  compelled  him  to  leave  the  city  three 
days  before  the  massacre.  In  the  Huguenot  army,  the 
attention  of  King  Henry  of  Navarre  was  called  to  him. 
They  were  about  the  same  age  and  much  alike.  He  hap- 
pened to  meet  Henry  when  the  Catholics  were  luring 
him  back  to  Rome,  and  he  called  Henry  back  to  himself. 
For,  as  he  watched  by  the  couch  of  the  king,  he  heard 
the  latter  sing  and  quote  the  80th  Psalm,  which  spoke 
about  absent  friends.  From  this  he  appealed  to  Henry 
that  his  heart  was  still  with  the  Huguenots.  It  resulted 
in  Henry's  full  return  to  the  Reformed  faith.  Flight 
from  the  Louvre  palace  at  Paris  was  determined  upon, 
and  on  February  20,  1578,  Henry  escaped.  As  he  fled 
to  his  land,  his  escort  became  an  army  as  the 
Huguenots  rose  to  defend  him.  D'Aubigne  became  his 
constant  companion.  The  latter's  marriage  with  a 
wealthy  lady  raised  him  from  a  soldier  to  a  courtier. 
He  was  called  "the  French  Regulus"  because  of  his  faith- 


Il8  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

fulness  to  his  promise.  For,  having  been  captured  by  the 
enemy  and  threatened  with  death,  yet,  when  paroled,  he, 
like  Regulus,  returned  to  his  prison  because  he  had 
pledged  his  word  to  return.  This  faithfulness  to  his 
word  so  impressed  his  captors  that  they  spared  his  life. 
He  took  a  brave  part  in  the  battle  of  Courtras,  1587,  when 
Henry  defeated  the  French  army.  As  was  customary 
among  the  Huguenots,  D'Aubigne  and  his  troops,  at  the 
beginning  of  the  battle,  began  the  113th  Psalm,  "This 
is  the  day  the  Lord  hath  made."  The  enemy,  seeing 
them  kneel,  cried  out,  "They  are  afraid  and  sue  thus  for 
mercy."  But  an  officer  in  the  French  army,  who  had 
had  previous  experience  with  them,  replied,  "When  the 
Huguenots  begin  thus,  they  fight  well."  They  fought 
there  to  victory. 

He  was  with  Henry  till  the  wars  ceased  and  the  latter 
became  King  of  France.  When  the  king  became  Catholic 
to  gain  the  throne,  he  warned  the  king  against  his  great 
apostasy,  and  yet  he  clung  to  his  master  in  spite  of  it. 
Being  so  near  to  the  king,  he  became  the  great  political 
leader  of  the  Huguenots.  As  such,  he  became  one  of 
the  authors  of  the  famous  Edict  of  Nantes,  which  gave 
the  Huguenots  toleration  in  France.  King  Henry  was 
assassinated  in  1610.  His  death  reminded  one  of  a 
prophecy  of  D'Aubigne.  Twenty  years  before,  when 
Chatel  made  an  unsuccessful  attempt  at  Henry's  life  at 
the  battle  of  Ivry,  D'Aubigne  said  to  him,  "God  has 
smitten  you  on  the  lip  for  having  denied  Him  with  the 
lip.  He  will  smite  you  to  the  heart  when  you  have 
denied  him  with  the  heart." 

After  the  death  of  Henry,  he  found  his  position  dim- 
cult  and  unpleasant.  He  was  attorney-general  of  the 
Huguenots  at  court,  and  yet  was  exiled  by  the  court 
from  it.  The  Huguenots  met  at  Saumur,  161 1,  to  decide 
what  to  do.  The  court  was  tempting  them  to  give  up 
their  cities  of  refuge  for  certain  privileges.     The  Duke 


THE  REFUGEES  1 19 

of  Bouillon,  one  of  their  leaders,  urged  them  to  do  so; 
but  D'Aubigne  rose  with  indignation  and  replied  tren- 
chantly, showing  the  absurdity  of  the  duke's  position, 
and  closed  with  an  eloquent  appeal  to  retain  their  cities. 
His  advice  probably  saved  the  Huguenots  from  destruc- 
tion earlier  than  it  came. 

But  his  position  became  so  uncomfortable  in  France 
that  finally,  in  1620,  at  the  age  of  sixty-eight,  he  fled  to 
Geneva.  Through  a  thousand  dangers  he  brought  his 
escort,  consisting  of  four  attendants  and  twelve  horses, 
under  whose  saddles  were  300,000  thalers.  He  received 
a  great  welcome  at  Geneva,  because  he  had  been  a  student 
of  Beza's  and  the  hero  of  the  Huguenots.  He  was 
offered  free  lodgings,  freedom  from  imposts,  and  was 
also  given  the  noble's  seat  in  the  cathedral. 

At  Geneva  he  spent  his  time  mainly  in  literary  pur- 
suits, for  he  had  become  famous  as  the  finest  poet  and 
satirist  in  French  of  his  day.  What  makes  his  writings 
of  special  interest  to  us  is  that  they  were  from  the 
Huguenot  standpoint.  Indeed,  as  a  critic  says,  it  was 
the  passions  of  the  Reformation  that  awoke  him  to  his 
true  poetic  nature,  and  from  being  a  poet  of  wine  and 
love  into  an  angry  satirist.  "The  Confessions  of  Sancy" 
( 1 599- 1 606)  was  a  bitter  satire  on  the  renegades  to  Rome 
and  against  Catholic  proselyters.  For  instance,  in  giving 
"The  Confessions  of  Sancy,"  he  satirizes  the  miracle  of 
transubstantiation  thus:  "The  sweat  of  the  wretched 
laborer  changes  (transubstantiates)  into  the  fat  of  the 
prosperous  treasurer.  The  taxes  of  France  have  tran- 
substantiated the  laborer's  fields  into  grass-patches,  the 
vineyards  into  waste  lands,  the  laborers  into  beggars, 
soldiers  into  thieves  with  little  of  the  miraculous,  serfs 
into  gentlemen,  servants  into  masters,  masters  into  serv- 
ants." His  largest  work  was  his  "Universal  History  of 
the  End  of  the  Sixteenth  Century."  In  it  he  aimed  to 
reveal  God's  plan  in  regard  to  the  Huguenots.     This  he 


120  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

was  abundantly  able  to  do,  as  he  knew  the  secrets  of  the 
court.  The  second  volume  was  publicly  burned  at  Paris 
by  Louis  XIII  in  1618.  But  his  greatest  work  was  his 
"Tragedies,"  begun  1577  and  ended  1616.  He  began 
them  while  recovering  from  a  wound  received  in  battle. 
They  are  a  vivid  picture  of  the  court  of  Henry  II  and 
his  mother,  Catharine  De  Medici.  In  them  he  describes 
the  persecutions  of  the  Huguenots.  The  fourth  book 
of  the  seven  has  been  called  the  French  Protestant  mar- 
tyrology.  The  last  books  take  the  reader  from  earth 
to  the  judgment  seat,  where  the  persecutors  of  the  Hugue- 
nots are  severely  punished.  On  the  one  hand,  the 
"Tragedies"  are  like  the  old  Roman  satires  of  Juvenal; 
on  the  other,  like  the  Hebrew  prophets  in  their  invec- 
tives. They  are  full  of  life  and  genius.  He  was  the 
colossal  censor  of  the  end  of  the  sixteenth  century.  His 
other  work,  "The  Adventures  of  the  Baron  of  Foeneste," 
was  also  a  satire  on  the  vanities  of  the  French  court. 
Some  of  these  works  he  re-wrote  or  finished  at  Geneva. 
But,  while  engaged  in  literature,  he  had  not  forgotten 
the  art  of  war.  Geneva,  realizing  his  great  military  abil- 
ity, made  him  the  head  of  her  army,  and  he  strengthened 
the  city  by  rebuilding  a  part  of  its  fortifications.  Bern 
wanted  him  to  come  to  her,  and  he  fortified  that  city 
against  the  possible  dangers  of  the  Thirty  Years'  War. 
Bern  also  asked  him  to  become  commander-in-chief  of 
her  army  of  48,000  men.  But  he  declined,  saying  he 
was  getting  too  old,  and,  besides,  he  could  not  speak  the 
German  language.  He  visited  Basle  in  1622,  when  his 
portrait,  now  in  the  Basle  Museum,  was  painted.  He 
drew  plans  for  the  fortifications  of  Basle,  which  it  is  said 
he  partially  fortified.  But  France  was  continually  plot- 
ting against  him,  though  Geneva  stood  bravely  by  him. 
When  Bern  tried  so  hard  to  get  him,  Geneva  favored  the 
purchase  of  the  castle  named  Crest,  in  its  vicinity,  for 


THE  REFUGEES  121 

him*  and  relieved  him  from  all  taxes.  So,  when  Venice 
tried  to  get  him  to  defend  the  Grisons,  he  declined,  say- 
ing he  would  make  Geneva  his  home.  He  became  so 
attached  to  Geneva  that,  in  1628,  when  he  was  about 
going  to  England  to  visit  his  son,  he  did  not  go  because 
Geneva  was  supposed  to  be  threatened  by  the  Catholics. 
Finally,  though  condemned  four  times  to  death  by 
France,  he  died  safely  in  his  bed  at  Geneva,  May  29, 
1630,  at  the  age  of  eighty.  His  wife,  leaning  over  his 
death-bed,  wanted  to  give  him  something  to  eat.  He 
replied,  "Let  me  depart  in  peace.  I  desire  to  eat  celestial 
food."  As  he  died,  he  faintly  muttered,  "The  day  has 
come.  Glory  be  to  God !  Let  us  delight  in  it."  He  was 
buried  in  the  cathedral  at  Geneva,  a  very  unusual  honor, 
for  the  Genevan  church  was  Puritanic  and  opposed 
burials  in  churches,  lest  they  become  places  of  idolatry, 
as  in  the  Catholic  Church.  His  monument  can  be  seen 
there  today,  with  a  Latin  inscription  to  his  memory.  He 
left  2,000  gulden  for  the  education  of  foreign  students 
for  the  ministry,  a  very  large  sum  for  those  days.  So 
lived  and  died  one  of  the  greatest  soldiers  of  King  Henry 
IV  of  France,  and  probably  the  keenest  French  satirist 
of  his  day,  a  warrior,  courtier,  statesman,  a  theologian, 
a  poet,  a  Christian.  "He  handled,"  says  one,  "the  pen 
and  lyre  as  well  as  the  sword."  Though  not  without 
great  faults,  yet  he  was  a  man  who  would  not  change  his 
convictions  even  to  please  a  king,  and  that  king  his 
friend — who  in  his  youth  sacrificed  all  his  prospects  of 
love  and  ambition  rather  than  commit  a  base  act. 

Section  3 
the  theological  seminary  of  antoine  court  at 

lausanne 
An  important  institution  in  connection  with  the  refu- 

*  This  castle  is  now  occupied  by  the  well-known  Genevan 
family  of  Tronchin. 


122  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

gees  from  France  was  the  Theological  Seminary  at  Lau- 
sanne. It  was  not,  however  intended  for  the  refugees 
in  Switzerland,  but  for  their  brethren  whom  they  had 
left  behind  in  France.  As  so  many  of  the  Huguenot 
ministers  had  been  either  put  to  death  or  sent  to  the 
galleys,  their  number  became  small.  So  it  was  felt  that 
a  theological  seminary  should  be  founded  somewhere  to 
supply  their  places  with  new  pastors,  for  the  Huguenot 
Church,  in  spite  of  its  persecutions,  was  growing. 

The  project  for  a  seminary  was  started  by  Rev. 
Antoine  Court,  the  great  preacher  of  the  "Church  of 
the  Desert,"  as  the  Huguenot  Church  was  then  called. 
He  had  been  the  reorganizer  of  the  Reformed  Church 
of  France — its  second  reformer,  as  Calvin  had  been  its 
first.  He  had  virtually  saved  that  church  from  disinte- 
gration and  extinction.  He  was  a  great  preacher  as  well 
as  an  organizer,  having  lived  under  the  shadow  of  mar- 
tyrdom for  many  years.  Under  his  ministry,  the  church, 
in  spite  of  its  persecutions,  grew,  so  that  there  was  great 
need  for  more  ministers.  Court,  therefore,  determined 
that  somewhere  in  the  lands  whither  the  refugees  had 
fled  a  theological  seminary  should  be  started  for  the 
shepherdless  church  of  France. 

Of  course,  such  a  seminary  could  not  be  founded  in 
France,  as  the  Reformed  religion  was  proscribed  there. 
Geneva  was  the  most  accessible  place,  but  it  was  felt 
that  Geneva  was  too  near  the  French  border.  The  lives 
of  the  students  might  be  endangered  there,  and,  besides, 
the  plans  of  the  Huguenots  to  send  them  back  to  France 
could  be  too  closely  watched  by  France.  So  it  was  de- 
termined to  locate  the  seminary  at  Lausanne,  which, 
while  not  too  far  from  France,  was  yet  out  of  the  reach 
of  her  espionage.  Court  first  corresponded  with  the 
Huguenot  refugees  in  different  places  about  it,  but 
nothing  tangible  came  out  of  it.  So  he  undertook  the 
work  personally.     He  first  went  to  Professor  Pictet,  of 


THE  REFUGEES  123 

Geneva.  He  there  found  that  one  of  the  reasons  why 
the  French  refugee  churches  did  not  aid  was  because 
they  supposed  the  Huguenot  Church  of  France  had  de- 
generated into  fanaticism  and  inspirationism.  Court 
showed  that  this  was  a  mistake,  and  that  all  they  needed 
was  a  sufficient  supply  of  properly  educated  ministers. 
He  then  travelled  through  different  Protestant  lands, 
raising  money.  Bern,  that  he  might  be  supported,  gave 
him  a  yearly  pension  of  500  livres  till  1735.  Zurich  also 
gave  him  a  pension  till  1747,  for  he  had  no  means  to 
support  his  family,  as  all  had  been  swept  away  by  the 
persecutions  in  France.  Some  of  the  French  Protest- 
ants charged  him  with  cowardice  in  thus  staying  out  of 
France,  as  if  he  feared  martyrdom.  But  Court  felt  he 
had  a  greater  mission  than  preaching  in  France,  namely, 
to  prepare  ministers  for  the  French  church.  He  could 
thus  re-duplicate  himself  many  times  over  to  the  far 
greater  prosperity  of  the  church.  Certainly  his  past  life, 
as  well  as  his  later  visits  to  France,  disprove  any  such 
charge. 

The  seminary  was  opened,  1729,  under  the  super- 
vision of  Duplan.  A  committee  was  organized  at  Lau- 
sanne to  finance  it.  Duplan  proved  an  indefatigable  agent 
for  it.  Contributions  came  in  from  many  quarters.  The 
King  of  England  gave  500  guineas.  Holland  and  Sweden 
aided  with  gifts.  Court  made  Lausanne  his  home,  dying 
there,  1760.  He  would  often  preach  with  great  power 
in  the  principal  cities  of  Switzerland,  as  Bern  and  Lau- 
sanne. He  also,  during  this  period,  composed  his  "His- 
tory of  the  Huguenots  Since  the  Revocation  of  Nantes," 
a  valuable  contribution,  for  no  one  knew  as  much  about 
that  period  as  he.  He  also  published  his  "History  of 
the  Camisards." 

The  actual  teaching  in  the  seminary  was  not  done  by 
Court,  for  he,  though  a  man  of  power,  had  had  no 
scholarly  training;  but  he  was  the  father  and  friend  of 


124 


THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 


the  students,  giving  them  advice  and  inspiration.  He 
probably  taught  some  practical  branches,  as  homiletics. 
One  of  the  pastors  of  Lausanne  taught  them  the  Bible, 
Osterwald's  catechism  and  Pictet's  theology.  The  theo- 
logical professors  of  the  academy  did  some  teaching  in 
the  seminary.  The  first  professors  were  Poller  and 
Ruchat,  the  former  taking  Hebrew,  the  latter  theological 
polemics,  especially  against  the  Catholics.  This  occupied 
a  large  place  in  their  teaching,  as  it  would  be  very  useful 
to  them  in  France.  The  dogmatics  was  orthodox  Cal- 
vinism, yet  liberal.  The  Helvetic  Consensus  did  not  seem 
to  have  been  able  to  stop  the  entrance  of  the  ideas  of 
Saumur.  Some  conservative  Swiss,  in  those  days  when 
Vaud  had  so  many  followers  of  Saumur,  were  suspicious 
of  the  liberal  Calvinism  of  this  seminary  and  tried  to 
keep  the  students  from  the  influence  of  the  views  of 
Saumur.  They  wrote  to  Court  to  take  his  seminary  away, 
as  to  Paris,  but  their  advice  was  not  followed.  Court, 
though  a  Calvinist,  yet  disliked  controversy  in  matters 
of  faith.  Later  other  professors  of  the  academy  taught 
the  students,  as  Salchly,  Secretan,  Chavannes  and 
Durand. 

The  students  were  ordained  at  Lausanne,  in  the  pres- 
ence of  the  professors  and  the  directors  or  committee 
of  the  society  which  supported  it.  Later  they  were  or- 
dained in  Languedoc.  Usually  there  were  from  20  to 
30  students  there.  The  seminary  lasted  for  eighty  years 
(1729-1809).  From  1726-1753  it  had  86  students;  up 
to  1788,  188.  Several  hundred  students  went  out  from 
it  to  preach  the  gospel  in  France,  a  number  of  them  to 
win  the  martyr's  crown,  and  all  to  face  the  danger  of 
it.  The  most  prominent  among  these  graduates  was 
Paul  Rabaut,  the  great  preacher  of  the  "Church  of  the 
Desert,"  who  completed  the  work  of  reorganizing  the 
French  church  which  had  been  begun  by  Court.  It  is 
an  interesting  and  significant  circumstance  that  it  was 


THE  REFUGEES  125 

his  son,  St.  Etienne  Rabaut,  who,  in  1790,  as  president 
of  the  national  congress,  proclaimed  religious  liberty  in 
France.  This  seminary,  like  its  founder,  Court,  proved 
to  be  the  saviour  of  the  Reformed  Church  of  France  by 
giving  to  it  ministers  so  as  to  perpetuate  its  existence. 

Section  4 
the  waldensian  refugees  from  italy 

The  Waldensian  immigration  was  later  than  the 
French,  and  not  so  large.  Ever  since  the  time  when 
Farel  had  first  visited  the  Waldensians,  in  1532,  the 
Swiss  had  felt  a  deep  interest  in  that  ancient  church,  the 
Israel  of  the  Alps.  In  1655  Waldensian  refugees  began 
to  come  from  Italy  because  of  persecutions.  The  Evan- 
gelical Diet  sent  an  embassy  to  their  ruler,  the  Duke  of 
Savoy,  at  Turin,  backed  by  Holland,  Brandenburg  and 
Hesse,  and  peace  came  to  them.  After  the  death  of 
Cromwell,  the  great  protector  of  the  Waldenses,  Switzer- 
land had  again  to  intercede  for  them  with  the  Duke  of 
Savoy  in  1663.  But  it  was  in  1686-87  that  the  largest 
emigration  from  Italy  occurred,  for  the  soldiers  of  Savoy, 
assisted  by  the  French,  took  possession  of  their  valleys. 

Among  the  Waldenses  was  a  minister  who  was  also 
a  great  soldier,  Henry  Arnaud.*  He  was  born  at  La 
Tour,  in  Italy,  the  capital  of  the  Waldensian  valleys. 
Educated  at  Basle,  he  went  to  Holland,  where  he  learned 
the  art  of  war  from  the  princes  of  Orange.  He  became 
pastor  of  the  Waldenses  in  1670.  He  was  thus  prepared 
by  providence  to  mingle  the  art  of  war  with  the  message 
of  peace.  He  led  his  countrymen  in  their  defence  against 
Savoy,  and  his  men  fought  so  bravely  that  the  Duke  of 
Savoy  gave  them  free  passes  to  Switzerland.  Out  of 
20,000  Waldenses,  about  3,000  came  to  Switzerland  in 

*  For  Arnaud's  life  see  my  ''History  of  the  Reformed  Church 
of  Germany,"  page  205. 


126  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

1687.  Of  these,  the  greater  number  went  on  to  Ger- 
many, as  Switzerland  was  so  full  of  refugees  that  she 
could  not  maintain  any  more. 

Gradually,  however,  a  desire  to  get  back  to  their 
native  valleys — the  genuine  Swiss  home-sickness — laid 
hold  on  them  in  the  summer  of  1689,  and  led  to  what 
is  called  the  "Glorious  Return."  The  Protestant  Swiss 
had  not  the  heart  to  stop  them,  because  many  of  them 
sympathized  with  them  and  so  pretended  to  be  ignorant 
of  their  movements.  The  Waldensees  came  from  Wur- 
temberg,  over  the  high  passes,  as  the  Grimsel,  to  Lake 
Geneva.  Only  in  the  Catholic  canton  of  Schwyz  was  a 
party  stopped  and  sent  to  Turin.  On  the  night  of  August 
16,  1689,  they  met  in  a  forest  at  Prangins,  near  Nyon,  on 
the  west  shore  of  the  Lake  of  Geneva.  They  then  in  boats 
crossed  that  lake  and  landed  in  Savoy,  near  Yvoire.  Then, 
800  in  number,  they  marched  over  the  frozen  glaciers  of 
the  Mt.  Cenis  pass,  amid  avalanches,  along  steep  defiles 
and  often  by  hanging  over  precipices.*  It  was  as  great  a 
march  as  Hannibal  and  Napoleon  had  made  over  the 
Alps,  only  their  numbers  were  fewer,  but  for  this  they 
made  up  in  their  greater  hair-breadth  escapes.  On  the 
eleventh  day  they  entered  their  valleys,  and  on  the  next 
day  Arnaud  preached  in  a  ruined  chapel  on  Psalms 
129:1,  2.  They  then  entrenched  themselves  in  one  of 
their  almost  impregnable  fortresses,  the  Balsille. 

But  for  a  strange  providence  they  would  probably 
have  starved  to  death,  for  a  sudden  thaw  one  night  re- 
moved a  mass  of  snow  from  the  fields.  There  they  found 
a  considerable  quantity  of  wheat  standing,  ready  for  the 

*  They  went  up  the  valley  of  the  Arve  to  St.  Joire,  through 
Clusis  and  Sallanches  over  the  Bon  Homme  pass,  then  down  the 
valley  of  the  Isere,  climbed  Mt.  Iseran,  descending  to  Bonneval, 
Then  over  Mt.  Cenis  and  down  to  Tourliers,  Susa  and  Exiles, 
and  on  the  ninth  day  they  overlooked  their  valleys  from 
Fenestrelles. 


THE  REFUGEES  127 

sickle.  In  the  spring,  the  Duke  of  Savoy  sent  22,000 
soldiers  against  them.  They  had  only  a  thousand  men, 
but  in  such  a  fastness  one  man  was  worth  a  thousand. 
However,  when  their  enemies  made  their  final  assault, 
they  determined  to  die  rather  than  surrender.  That 
night,  by  an  inaccessible  path,  by  overhanging  precipices, 
they  escaped.  The  next  morning  their  enemies  saw  them 
in  the  far  distance,  like  ants  climbing  over  the  distant 
snow.  For  three  days  they  wandered,  trying  to  get  to 
their  other  fastness,  the  Pra  del  Tor.  But  before  they 
could  reach  it  a  most  unexpected  thing  happened.  The 
Duke  of  Savoy  declared  war  against  France.  Now  both 
Savoy  and  France  sought  their  aid.  They  chose  Savoy, 
even  though  she  had  so  terribly  persecuted  them.  And  it 
is  one  of  the  remarkable  revenges  of  history  that,  when 
the  Duke  of  Savoy  was  compelled  to  flee  by  France,  where 
did  he  find  a  refuge  but  among  the  Waldenses  whom  he 
had  so  bitterly  persecuted.  After  that  there  was  peace 
for  a  time,  but  persecutions  broke  out  again,  and  in  1698 
Switzerland  received  2,800  refugees,  many  going  on  to 
Germany.  Among  them  was  Arnaud,  who  became  pastor 
of  a  Waldensian  congregation  at  Durmenz,  Wurtemberg, 
where,  after  writing  his  famous  "Chronicle  of  the  Glo- 
rious Return,"  he  died,  September  8,  1721. 

Section  5 

the  hungarian  refugees 

On  January  16,  1674,  the  Catholic  archbishop  of  Gran 
gathered  fifty-seven  of  the  Reformed  ministers  at  Press- 
burg  and  condemned  them.  Two  recanted,  but  fifty-five 
stood  firm.  At  first  they  were  scattered  in  various 
prisons,  being  put  in  chains ;  but  on  March  18,  1674, 
forty-two  of  them  were  sent  to  Naples  with  chains  on 
their  feet  and  abused  by  the  soldiers  who  guarded  them. 
On  their  journey  they  were  locked  in  stables  and  stinted 


128  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

in  food,  so  that  many  became  sick.  At  the  castle  at 
Buccan,  on  the  Adriatic  sea,  they  were  shut  up  in  one 
prison,  where  they  saw  neither  sun  nor  moon  and  for 
fifteen  days  had  no  bread.  They  were  then  taken  to 
Trieste,  where  they  were  plundered.  Four  of  them  died 
at  Trieste  from  their  sufferings,  two  having  died  before. 
They  were  then  taken  to  Pescara  and  across  Italy,  on 
the  way  being  cast  into  stables  and  poor  prisons,  and 
suffering  from  hunger  and  thirst.  The  remaining  thirty 
arrived  at  Naples  May  7,  1674,  where  each  was  sold 
for  fifty  Spanish  piastres,  and  they  were  chained  to  the 
rowing  bench  of  the  galleys  together  with  Turkish  slaves 
and  criminals.     The  next  year  others  were  sent  to  them. 

But  their  presence  and  their  sad  condition  became 
known.  A  rich  merchant  of  Naples,  George  Weltz,  gave 
them  food  and  drink  every  third  day,  and  also  money 
and  clothing.  On  August  20,  1674,  a  Genevese  merchant 
reported  their  case  to  Geneva,  and  a  subscription  was 
immediately  taken  up.  Benedict  Turretin,  the  diplomat, 
made  known  the  facts  about  them  to  King  William  III 
of  England.  In  the  meanwhile,  these  refugees  sent  a 
letter  of  entreaty  to  their  fellow-Protestants  in  Naples, 
and  also  to  the  Dutch  resident  in  Venice.  He  interceded 
for  them  with  the  Evangelical  states  of  Switzerland,  also 
with  Holland,  England  and  Germany.  These  two  diplo- 
mats, Turretin  and  Zasseus,  labored  together  to  get  them 
free.  Meanwhile  George  Weltz  went  to  the  head  of 
the  galleys  at  Naples  and  offered  100  ducats  for  the 
freedom  of  each,  but  in  vain.  Thus  all  efforts  to  gain 
their  liberty  failed. 

But  when  hope  seemed  darkest  relief  came.  The 
King  of  England  ordered  Admiral  De  Ruyter  to  free 
them.  He  went  to  Naples  and  secured  their  release, 
February  11,  1676,  without  any  ransom.  When  they 
were  freed,  they  sang  for  joy  Psalms  46,  114  and  125. 
They  were  taken  to  the  vice-admiral's  ship  and  given 


THE  REFUGEES 


129 


food  and  drink,  as  they  sang  the  116th  Psalm  as  their 
song  of  freedom.  Ruyter  received  them  with  the  words, 
"Of  all  my  victories,  none  gives  me  so  much  joy  as  the 
liberation  of  these  servants  of  God."  Then  Weltz  clothed 
them.  Through  the  influence  of  the  Dutch  ambassador 
at  Vienna,  their  freedom  was  confirmed.  They  had  been 
nine  months  in  the  galleys.  As  Switzerland  had  done 
so  much  for  them,  they  went  to  Geneva  to  thank  the 
citizens  for  their  sympathy  and  gifts.  They  also  went 
to  Zurich,  Hottinger,  the  great  Swiss  historian,  having 
met  them  near  Geneva,  at  Morges,  and  escorting  them 
to  Zurich,  where  they  arrived  May  20,  1676,  twenty-five 
in  number.  There  they  were  very  warmly  welcomed. 
After  an  address  by  Hottinger,  the  ministers  of  the  city 
took  them  to  their  own  houses,  glad  to  entertain  such 
sufferers  for  the  Reformed  faith.  They  were  then  kept 
at  the  city's  expense  and  given  money  for  their  further 
travels.  Switzerland  raised  for  them  15,490  gulden.  The 
Reformed  merchants  of  Holland  and  Zurich  gathered 
money  for  them  to  travel  to  Holland.  After  long  efforts 
to  find  work  for  them,  one-half  of  them  found  places 
in  Holland.  The  other  scattered  through  the  Protestant 
countries. 


BOOK  II 

THE  PERIOD  OF  SCHOLASTIC  CALVINISM 


PART   I 

THE  RISE  OF  SCHOLASTIC  CALVINISM 

No  theological  system  remains  exactly  stationary,  and 
Calvinism  did  not.  Beza  developed  its  stern  logic  to  its 
highest  point,  supralapsarianism,  in  which  he  was  for 
a  time  followed  by  France,  Holland,  Switzerland  and 
some  parts  of  Germany,  as  the  Palatinate,  Nassau  and 
the  northern  Rhine.  The  synod  of  Dort  (1618)  came 
as  a  liberalizer  of  Calvinism.  This  statement  may  seem 
strange  to  us  in  our  day,  when  the  synod  of  Dort  is 
looked  upon  as  the  conservator  of  high-Calvinism.  But 
Dort,  though  high  to  us,  was  low  to  them,  as  Prof. 
Henry  B.  Smith  declared,  "since  the  synod  of  Dort  supra- 
lapsarianism has  not  dared  to  lift  its  head." 

The  synod  of  Dort  revealed  three  types  of  Calvinism, 
supralapsarianism,  infralapsarianism  and  sublapsarian- 
ism.*  They  differed  on  two  points,  the  order  of  the 
decrees  and  the  atonement.  Their  order  of  the  decrees 
was: 

1.  Supralapsarianism  arranged  the  decrees — election, 
creation,  redemption  and  reprobation. 

2.  Infralapsarianism  had  creation,  election,  redemp- 
tion and  reprobation. 

3.  Sublapsarianism  had  creation,  redemption,  elec- 
tion and  preterition. 

The  objection  to  the  supralapsarian  view  was  that 
there  was  election  when  there  was  nothing  to  elect,  be- 
cause creation  came  after  election. 

*  These  three  types  may  be  called  respectively  highest-,  high- 
and  low-Calvinism. 

133 


I34  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

The  difference  on  the  atonement  was  that  the  two 
first  made  the  atonement  limited  (Christ  died  for  the 
elect).  The  last  made  it  universal  (Christ  died  for  all 
men). 

The  supralapsarians  tried  to  gain  control  of  the 
synod  of  Dort,  but  got  no  farther  than  the  election 
of  the  president.  They  were  checkmated  in  the  canons 
adopted  by  the  synod,  which  were  infralapsarian,  and 
even  a  sublapsarian  interpretation  of  them  was  allowed 
to  the  English  and  Bremen  delegates.* 

After  the  synod  of  Dort,  two  forms  of  Calvinism 
appeared : 

i.  Cocceianism,  or  the  Federal  Theology — the  the- 
ology of  the  Covenants.  This  was  founded  by  Prof. 
John  Koch,  often  called  Cocceius,  who  was  professor  of 
theology  at  Bremen  (1629)  and  Leyden  (1650).  It  was 
a  return  from  creedal  to  Biblical  theology,  but  at  the 
same  time  it  aimed  to  apply  the  method  of  Descartes  to 
the  Bible,  and  some  of  the  Cocceians  were  strong  Car- 
tesians in  philosophy,  which  led  them  to  be  suspected  of 
rationalism.  But  the  purely  Cocceian  school  was  essen- 
tially Biblical.  Its  guiding  principle  was  the  covenants. 
It  taught  two  covenants : 

1.  The  Covenant  of  Works,  made  by  God  with  man 
before  the  fall  in  the  garden  of  Eden — that  if  man  did 
what  was  right,  he  would  attain  to  bliss  in  heaven. 

2.  The  Covenant  of  Grace,  made  by  God  with  man 
after  the  fall,  by  which  men  are  not  saved  by  their  good 
works,  but  by  the  grace  of  God  and  through  the  gift 
of  His  Son. 

Koch  claimed  to  be  decretal  in  his  theology,  and  he 
was.  But  his  tendency  was  toward  making  redemption 
more  central  in  theology  without,  however,  giving  up  pre- 
destination.    His  position  is  now  held  by  the  high-Cal- 

*  For  a  sketch  of  these  different  schools  of  Calvinism  see  ray 
"History  of  the  Reformed  Church  of  Germany,"  page  319. 


SCHOLASTIC  CALVINISM  135 

vinists  of  our  day,  who  are  mainly  Federalists  and  hold 
to  limited  atonement.  A  half  a  century  ago  this  was 
called  Old  School  Calvinism. 

2.  The  Saumur  Calvinism.  At  the  theological  school 
of  Saumur,  in  France,  the  Calvinistic  doctrines  were  lib- 
eralized. Professor  Amyraut  developed  his  view  of  so- 
called  hypothetical  election  instead  of  the  unconditional 
election  of  the  strict  Calvinists.  Placeus  taught  the 
mediate  imputation  of  Adam's  sin  instead  of  the  imme- 
diate imputation  of  Adam's  sin  to  us,  then  generally  held 
by  Calvinists.  Both  made  Calvinism  redemptive  and  held 
to  universal  atonement.  The  latter  was  an  old  doctrine 
of  the  Reformed  held  by  Zwingli,  Bullinger  and  Lasco  in 
the  Reformation.  To  these  two  doctrines  Saumur  added 
a  third,  the  denial  by  Professor  Capellus  of  the  inspira- 
tion of  the  vowel  points  of  the  Hebrew  text  of  the  Old 
Testament,  which  was  taught  by  Buxdorf,  of  Basle. 

Over  against  especially  these  more  liberal  views  there 
was  developed  what  has  been  called  scholastic  Calvinism. 
There  had  been  a  tendency  toward  this  in  the  later  days 
of  the  Reformation,  but  the  fresh  religious  life  of  that 
period  checked  it.  But,  after  the  rich  glow  of  that  life 
had  departed,  doctrines  lost  their  spiritual  power  and 
subsided  into  hard  and  fast  forms.  More  and  more  the 
subtleties  of  the  Aristotelian  philosophy,  which  had  been 
applied  to  the  Catholic  theology  in  the  Middle  Ages 
to  grind  out  its  life,  were  now  applied  to  Protestant  the- 
ology. Perhaps  the  best  type  we  have  of  this  scholastic 
theology  of  the  Reformed  was  by  Professor  Wendelin, 
professor  at  Anhalt,  in  Germany.  Switzerland  began  to 
be  strongly  affected  by  this  scholastic  Calvinism,  which 
made  more  of  the  form  of  the  doctrine  than  of  the  life 
in  it. 

It  was  evident  that  these  different  types  of  Calvinism 
would  meet  in  conflict  some  day.  This  occurred  in  the 
adoption  of  the  Helvetic  Consensus  by  Switzerland  in 


I36  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

1675.  The  reader  should  be  careful  to  distinguish  this 
creed  from  the  Second  Helvetic  Confession,  which  had 
Leen  drawn  up  by  Bullinger  in  the  previous  century  and 
adopted  by  the  Swiss  cantons.  That  was  a  much  more 
liberal  Calvinistic  creed  as  we  would  expect  because 
it  came  from  Bullinger.  While  Calvinistic,  it  is  yet  lib- 
eral, granting  universal  atonement.  It  is  also  to  be  re- 
membered, in  this  study  of  the  scholastic  Calvinism  of 
the  Helvetic  Consensus,  that  the  only  kind  of  Arminian- 
ism  that  the  Calvinists  knew  at  that  time  was  that  which 
had  Socinianism  at  bottom.  It  was  rationalistic  Armin- 
ianism.  (It  is  an  interesting  fact  that  in  Holland  the 
Arminian  churches  had  not  existed  long  before  they  all 
became  Unitarian,  as  they  are  now.)  That  was  the  reason 
why  the  Calvinists  fought  Arminianism  so  severely  and 
felt  themselves  the  bulwark  of  Evangelicalism.  They 
did  not  know  what  we  call  Evangelical  Arminianism,  as 
it  did  not  come  up  till  later  under  John  Wesley,  in  the 
eighteenth  century.  So  that  their  Arminianism  was  dif- 
ferent from  ours  of  today.  Theirs  was  rationalistic,  ours 
is  Evangelical.  Against  any  Arminianism  of  that  day,  the 
Calvinists  felt  they  must  hold  to  predestination,  as  it 
emphasized  salvation  only  by  the  grace  of  God. 


CHAPTER  I 

Zurich 

The  great  Breitinger  was  dead  and  there  was  none  to 
fill  his  place  in  the  antistes'  chair.  His  successors  were 
men  of  mediocrity,  with  perhaps  one  exception,  Klingler. 
The  time  now  came  when  there  were  abler  men  in  the 
professors'  chairs  at  Zurich  than  in  that  of  the  antistes. 

Section  i 

antistes  john  jacob  irminger   (1645-49)   and  john 
jacob  ulrich  (1649-68) 

John  Jacob  Irminger  was  born  in  1588  and  educated 
at  Zurich  and  Marburg.  He  became  antistes  in  1645. 
But  he  found  the  office  not  a  joy,  but  a  burden,  for  he 
was  constantly  contrasted  with  his  predecessor,  Breitin- 
ger, greatly  to  his  disadvantage.  He  was  a  man  of  ability 
and  also  of  modesty,  but  he  lacked  Breitinger's  broad 
mind  and  personal  magnetism.  The  keynote  of  his  ad- 
ministration was  conservatism,  the  only  novelty  intro- 
duced being  the  fall  communion,  in  1649,  f°r  Zurich 
before  this  had  only  three  communions  annually,  at 
Christmas,  Easter  and  Whitsunday.  In  his  day  the  be- 
ginnings of  the  controversy  about  the  low  Calvinism  of 
the  school  of  Saumur  began  to  appear.  As  early  as  1636, 
Zurich  had  withdrawn  her  students  in  France  from 
Saumur  and  sent  them  to  more  orthodox  Montauban. 
He  drew  up  a  letter  (1646),  which  was  sent  by  the 
ministers  of  Switzerland  to  the  Reformed  ministers  of 
Paris,  admonishing  them  to  give  up  the  novelties  of 
Saumur  and  hold  fast  to  the  old  Reformed  faith     But 

137 


1 38  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

the  ministers  of  Paris  generally  sympathized  with 
Saumur  and  replied  that  they  held  to  the  Gallic  Con- 
fession and  the  Canons  of  Dort,  and  that  the  changes 
made  by  Amyraut  were  not  in  fundamentals,  but  only  in 
the  method  of  statement  The  Swiss  replied,  March, 
1649,  that  Amyraut's  changes  were  more  than  of  method. 

Antistes  John  Jacob  Ulrich  was  born  in  1602  and 
was  a  fine  linguist.  In  1630  he  was  made  professor  of 
theology,  and  1638  pastor  of  the  Preacher's  Church.  He 
was  elected  antistes  in  1649.  Nothing  remarkable  oc- 
curred during  his  antisteship  except  two  trials  for  heresy. 

In  1652  the  heresy  of  General  John  Rudolph  Werd- 
miller  occurred.  He  had  bought  the  half-island  of  Au, 
in  Lake  Zurich,  near  Wadenschwyl,  and  lived  there.  He 
had  brought  with  him  from  his  foreign  wars  two  Turkish 
slaves  from  Dalmatia,  upon  whom  the  superstitious  Swiss 
looked  with  suspicion  as  being  masters  of  the  black  art 
and  imps  of  the  demon  of  darkness.  This  roused  the 
suspicion  that  their  master  had  converse  with  the  spirits 
of  darkness.  These  slaves  made  a  gondola  which  seemed 
to  the  Swiss  to  be  the  product  of  magic,  as  it  cut  the 
waves  with  such  amazing  rapidity.  Still,  through  the 
influence  of  a  cousin  of  Werdmiller's,  they  were  baptized 
in  the  Fraumunster  Church,  at  Zurich,  March  21,  1652. 
These  suspicions  already  raised  against  Werdmiller  pre- 
pared the  way  for  the  heresy  charges.  On  March  4, 
1652,  at  a  gathering  in  the  castle  at  Wadenschwyl,  Werd- 
miller, who  loved  to  get  into  a  discussion  with  the  minis- 
ters, expressed  himself  too  freely,  saying  that  ministers 
did  not  always  preach  what  they  believed,  and  they  did 
not  agree  in  their  theological  views.  He  denied  the  resur- 
rection of  the  body  and  said  that  no  one  knew  where 
hell  was,  some  putting  it  up  in  the  air,  some  down  in 
the  earth's  center.  Grob,  who  sat  opposite  and  who  was 
quite  an  apologist,  having  converted  a  whole  Catholic 
village    to    Protestantism,    withstood    him.     Complaints 


ZURICH  139 

were  entered  against  Werdmiller,  but  nothing  came  of 
it.  In  1656,  when  he  led  the  Zurich  troops  against  the 
city  of  Rapperschwyl,  he,  contrary  to  the  previous  cus- 
tom, led  them  into  battle  without  any  previous  prayer 
or  religious  ceremony.  His  critics  took  this  up,  revived 
the  previous  complaints,  and  he  was  called  before  a  com- 
mission, December  4,  1658.  There  were  eight  charges 
brought  against  him,  as  that  he  denied  the  trinity,  the 
resurrection  and  the  locality  of  hell.  He  denied  this 
and  claimed  to  hold  to  the  Helvetic  Confession.  Never- 
theless, he  was  condemned  as  an  atheist  and  blasphemer 
and  fined.  Popular  opinion  increased  against  him  as  an 
infidel,  so  that  he  no  longer  felt  safe,  and,  at  the  advice 
of  his  friends,  he  quietly  fled.  He  entered  the  military 
service  of  the  Catholics  and  died  (1697).  How  far  these 
charges  were  true  is  a  question,  for  politics  entered  into 
the  case  as  well  as  religion.  It  is  true  he  did  not  like 
the  use  of  the  word  "person"  as  applied  to  the  trinity, 
because  it  was  liable  to  be  misunderstood.  He  did  not 
deny  the  resurrection,  only  that  of  the  body,  and  he  did 
not  deny  hell,  only  its  locality.  His  flippancy  about  re- 
ligious things  he  had  gained  in  foreign  military  service. 
Heretics  are  not  apt  to  come  along  alone,  so  another 
appeared.  But  this  was  not  a  departure  from  orthodoxy, 
as  in  Werdmiller's  case,  as  much  as  a  departure  from 
high-Calvinism.  Rev.  Michael  Zink  was  pastor  at  St. 
Jacob's,  near  Zurich,  and  professor  of  mathematics  in 
Zurich.  Just  when  the  Werdmiller  case  was  exciting  the 
people,  he  preached  a  sermon,  November  2.7,  1659,  in 
which  he  declared  for  universal  atonement — that  Jesus 
died  for  all  men,  and  not  merely  for  the  elect.  This 
caused  a  sensation,  for  Zurich  was  high-Calvinistic.  He 
therefore  wrote  a  defence,  in  which  he  claimed  that 
Zwingli  and  Bullinger  held  to  his  view,  which  was  true. 
One  day,  in  a  book-store  at  Zurich,  in  July,  1660,  one 
of  the  students  told  him  that  Professor  Heidegger  was 


l4o  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

discussing  whether  Christ  died  for  all  men  or  only  for 
the  elect.  He  replied,  "Why  discuss  it.  Let  us  stick  to 
the  beautiful  words  of  Scripture — Christ  is  the  propitia- 
tion for  our  sins,  and  not  for  ours  only,  but  for  the 
sins  of  the  whole  world."  This  conversation  was  re- 
ported and  he  was  cited  before  a  commission,  July  n. 
They  asked  him  whether  he  accepted  the  Helvetic  Con- 
fession. He  replied  in  the  affirmative.  Then,  whether 
he  accepted  the  canons  of  Dort.  This  seems  to  show, 
as  Finsler  says,*  that,  although  the  canons  of  Dort  were 
never  officially  adopted  by  Zurich,  yet  they  were  virtually 
in  force  at  Zurich  at  that  time.  Zink  replied  that  he 
did  not  accept  all  the  canons  of  Dort,  as  they  differed 
from  the  Helvetic  Confession  on  some  points.  They 
replied  that  it  was  the  judgment  of  the  Swiss  theologians 
that  the  Helvetic  Confession  and  the  canons  of  Dort 
were  in  entire  agreement.  He  later  declared  that  he 
agreed  with  Dort  on  election,  but  not  on  reprobation. 
He  was  suspended  from  the  ministry.  On  December 
16,  1660,  other  charges  were  brought  against  him,  as  that 
he  denied  the  trinity,  Adam's  sin,  etc.  He  was  deposed, 
and,  as  there  was  a  rumor  that  he  would  be  put  to  death, 
he  fled  to  Roteln,  in  Baden,  Germany.  He  wrote  back 
to  Zurich,  affirming  his  orthodoxy  and  asking  to  be  al- 
lowed to  return ;  but  he  was  refused  and  he  died  abroad. 
The  significance  of  this  Zink  controversy  is  that  it  com- 
mitted the  Zurich  church  against  Saumur  and  to  the 
canons  of  Dort,  which  were  then  recognized  as  the  norm 
of  Calvinistic  orthodoxy. 

Section  2 

prof.  john  henry  hottinger 

We  now  come  to  the  brightest  mind  of  his  day,  and 
one  of  the  most  brilliant  men  that  the  Reformed  Church 

*Meili's  "Theologische  Zeitschrift,"  1895,  page   186. 


ZURICH  141 

of  Switzerland  ever  produced.  He  was  called  the 
"Orientalist  of  the  Seventeenth  Century."  Up  to  his 
time  Switzerland  had  given  little  attention  to  the  Semitic 
languages  except  Hebrew.  He  was  the  first  to  break  the 
way  into  the  other  cognate  tongues.  He  belonged  to 
a  prominent  family  of  Zurich,  which  has  produced  many 
professors  and  ministers,  but  he  was  the  ablest  of  them 
all.  He  was  born  March  10,  1620,  at  Zurich.  He  early 
revealed  great  linguistic  talents,  as  he  easily  translated 
the  sermon  he  heard  into  Greek.  He  studied  at  Zurich, 
Geneva,  Groningen  and  Leyden.  At  Groningen  a  Jew, 
and  then  a  Turk,  taught  him  Oriental  languages.  It 
happened  that  just  at  that  time  Golius,  the  great  Oriental- 
ist of  Leyden  University,  was  seeking  for  a  young  man 
to  help  him.  Hottinger  was  offered  the  position  and 
accepted.  This  gave  him  unusual  opportunities.  He 
lived  at  Golius'  house  and  had  access  to  the  valuable 
manuscripts  Golius  had  collected  in  the  Orient.  He  also 
learned  Turkish  and  Arabic  from  a  Mohammedan  who 
lived  with  Golius,  and  soon  was  as  fluent  in  talking 
Arabic  as  he  had  been  in  Latin.  During  the  fourteen 
months  he  spent  there,  he  copied  many  manuscripts,  so 
that  Golius  said  of  him,  "Hottinger  has  written  more 
books  in  his  short  stay  than  many  men  have  in  their 
whole  lifetime."  Golius  declared  he  knew  no  one  in 
his  time  who  had  gone  as  far  into  the  Oriental  languages 
as  Hottinger.  The  Dutch  ambassador  wanted  to  make 
Hottinger  chaplain  of  the  Dutch  embassy  at  Constanti- 
nople, which  would  have  given  him  a  magnificent  op- 
portunity to  get  at  the  manuscripts  in  the  Orient,  but 
Zurich  refused  him  permission.  She,  however,  gave  him 
means  to  travel  through  England,  where  he  was  received 
with  distinguished  honor  by  the  leading  Orientalists. 
After  four  years'  absence,  he  returned  to  Zurich  (1642), 
at  the  age  of  twenty-one,  already  one  of  the  leading 
Orientalists  of  Europe.     He  became  professor  of  cate- 


I42  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

chetics  and  then  of  Hebrew,  and  in  1653  of  the  New 
Testament.  When  Elector  Charles  Lewis,  of  the  Palati- 
nate, was  trying  to  revive  the  university  at  Heidelberg 
after  the  Thirty  Years'  War,  he  asked  Zurich  to  loan 
him  Hottinger  for  three  years  as  professor.  Hottinger 
went  to  Heidelberg  in  1655,  receiving  on  his  way,  at 
Basle,  the  degree  of  doctor.  His  fame  drew  many  stu- 
dents, especially  Swiss,  to  Heidelberg. 

An  interesting  story  is  told  by  Heidegger  that,  on 
one  occasion,  Hottinger  and  himself  came  upon  a  Jewish 
rabbi  and  his  son.  The  father  had  long  tried  to  make 
his  son  learn  Hebrew,  but  had  had  great  difficulty.  When 
the  father  heard  with  what  ease  Hottinger  spoke  Hebrew, 
he  suddenly  fell  on  his  son  and  gave  him  a  severe  whip- 
ping, saying,  "You  sluggard,  how  long  have  I  taught 
you  Hebrew,  and  now  you  let  a  Christian  surpass  you 
in  it."  When  the  three  years  that  Hottinger  was  loaned 
to  the  Palatinate  had  expired,  the  Elector  of  the  Palatinate 
asked  that  he  be  allowed  to  stay  longer,  which  Zurich 
granted,  and  he  remained  in  all  at  Heidelberg  six  years 
— until  1661.  He  was  treated  with  distinguished  honor 
there,  being  made  a  member  of  the  consistory  and  rector 
of  the  university.  When  an  emperor  was  to  be  elected, 
the  Elector  took  him  to  the  German  Diet  at  Frankfort, 
where  he  became  acquainted  with  the  arclibishop  of 
Hungary,  who  was  very  learned  in  the  Turkish  language, 
and  with  Ludolph,  from  whom  he  learned  much  of  the 
Ethiopic.  While  at  Heidelberg,  he  also  became  ac- 
quainted with  the  learned  sister  of  the  Elector,  Princess 
Elizabeth  of  the  Palatinate,  the  pupil  of  Descartes,  and 
later  abbess  of  Her  ford,  in  Germany.  When  his  second 
term  at  Heidelberg  was  ended,  the  Elector  was  loth  to 
give  him  up ;  but  Zurich  held  fast  to  him,  as  she  needed 
him  as  professor.  And  it  is  said  that  Hottinger  was  glad 
to  return,  for  Heidelberg  had  become  uncomfortable 
for   him   because   of   the   unfortunate   marriage   of   the 


Antistes    Rudolph  Gualther  Antistes  John  Jacob  Breitinger 


Prof.  John  Henry  Hottinger  Antistes  John    Jacob  Hess 


ZURICH  143 

Elector  with  the  Raugrafin  Louisa  of  Degenfeld.  He 
returned  to  Zurich  in  1661.  During  his  life  he  had  many 
calls  as  professor,  as  to  Bremen,  Marburg,  Amsterdam, 
but  he  refused  them  all.  A!  call  came  in  1666  from  Ley- 
den  University,  the  leading  Reformed  professorship  in 
Europe,  but  he  declined  it.  But  Leyden  gave  him  a 
second  call  and  he  finally  accepted  it,  and  Zurich  agreed 
to  loan  him  to  the  Dutch  for  six  years.  But  just  before 
he  was  to  leave  Zurich  he  was  drowned  in  the  Limmat 
river  at  Zurich,  June  5,  1667.  The  river  being  in  a 
freshet,  his  boat  was  overturned.  He  might  have  saved 
himself,  but  the  sight  of  his  three  drowning  children  led 
him  to  throw  himself  in  to  save  them,  and  after  a  severe 
struggle  he,  too,  was  drowned.  The  calamity  shook  the 
city  of  Zurich,  and  all  Europe  mourned  with  Zurich. 

Another  of  this  famous  Hottinger  family  deserves 
mention — John  Jacob  Hottinger,  a  son  of  John  Henry 
Hottinger.  Born  at  Zurich  in  1652,  he  became  a  pupil 
of  the  three  founders  of  the  Helvetic  Consensus,  Heideg- 
ger at  Zurich,  Gernler  at  Basle,  F.  Turretin  at  Geneva. 
In  1698  he  succeeded  Heidegger  as  professor  of  theology 
and  gained  great  fame  as  a  historian.  He  did  for  the 
Reformed  what  the  Baronius  did  for  the  Catholics  and 
Flacius  did  for  the  Lutherans  in  his  Magdeburg  Cen- 
turies— he  was  the  great  historian  of  the  Reformed 
Church.  This  history  was  published  in  nine  volumes,  up 
to  1657.     Of  these,  five  relate  to  the  sixteenth  century. 

Section  3 

antistes  casper  waser  ( 1 668-77) 

The  successor  of  Ulrich  in  the  antistes'  chair  was 
not  so  scholarly,  but  had  considerable  executive  ability. 
Born  December  5,  1612,  his  father  wanted  him  to  study 
medicine,  as  two  of  his  brothers  had  already  entered 
the  ministry.     But  the  death  of  one  of  these  brothers 


144 


THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 


and  the  persuasion  of  Breitinger  led  him  to  obey  the  will 
of  his  heavenly  Father  rather  than  of  an  earthly  father. 
He  studied  theology  at  Zurich,  Lausanne,  Saumur  and 
Paris.  In  1635  he  became  archdeacon  at  the  cathedral, 
and  in  1668  antistes.  He  died  in  1677.  His  term  of 
office  was  short  yet  important,  for  during  it  the  Helvetic 
Consensus  was  adopted.  We  shall  speak  of  his  con- 
nection with  it  later.  He  died  in  1677  with  the  words 
of  Stephen,  "Lord  Jesus,  receive  my  spirit,"  on  his  lips. 
During  the  administration  of  Ulrich  and  Waser,  there 
was  a  very  prominent  professor  of  Greek  at  Zurich,  J. 
Casper  Schweizer  (Suicer).  Born  in  1620,  he  studied 
at  Zurich  and  Saumur.  He  was  as  learned  in  Greek 
as  Hottinger  in  Hebrew.  His  great  work  is  a  "Thesaurus 
of  Greek,"  which  is  a  monumental  work — a  wonderful 
collection  of  classical  material — and  is  a  standard  today. 

Section  4 

prof.  john  henry  heidegger 

Heidegger  was  the  most  prominent  dogmatician  of  his 
day  in  Zurich.  Born  July  1,  1633,  he  studied  at  Zurich 
and  Marburg,  where  he  lived  in  the  house  of  Prof.  John 
Crocius,  one  of  the  most  prominent  theologians  of  his 
day  in  the  Reformed  Church  of  Germany.  Then  he 
became  professor  of  theology  at  Steinfurt,  in  Germany 
(1659-65).  While  there  he  visited  Holland  and  met 
Cocceius,  whose  theological  system  he  followed.  He 
returned  to  Zurich  (1665),  and  when  Hottinger  was 
drowned  he  was  elected  in  his  place  as  professor  of  the- 
ology. He  was,  however,  looked  upon  with  some  sus- 
picion at  Zurich  because  he  was  introducing  the  new 
Cocceian  type  of  Calvinism.  He  received  several  calls, 
as  to  Groningen  in  Alting's  place,  and  to  Leyden  in 
Cocceius'  place,  which  was  the  most  prominent  Reformed 
professorship  in  Europe.    He  declined  them  all.    He  died 


ZURICH  145 

January  18,  1698.  There  is  a  beautiful  story  told  of  his 
death-bed  that,  when  antistes  Klingler  prayed  with  him, 
he  remarked,  "Such  prayers  are  real  chariots  of  Elijah 
on  which  to  ascend  to  heaven." 

Heidegger  was  a  fine  theologian,  revealing  ability  but 
not  great  originality.  His  greatest  work  was  his  Corpus 
or  Statement  of  Christian  Doctrine  (1700).  He  also 
published  two  smaller  works  on  dogmatics.  These  works 
for  a  half  century  were  the  leading  textbooks  in  Reformed 
theology.  From  1664  to  1680  he  developed  an  extensive 
polemical  activity  against  the  Catholic  Church. 


10 


CHAPTER  II 
Basle 

Section   i 
antistes  john  wolleb  (1618-29) 

WollEb  was  the  first  antistes  of  Basle  who  was  born 
in  that  canton,  and  he  was  worthy  of  the  honor  of  his 
position  because  of  his  ability.  He  was  born  November 
30,  1586,  educated  at  Basle  and  made  professor  of  Old 
Testament  (1611),  and  antistes  July  20,  1618.  He  had 
hardly  been  elected  when  the  synod  of  Dort  met.  Basle 
ought  to  have  sent  him  to  that  synod  instead  of  the  two 
mediocre  delegates  she  sent,  as  he  would  have  ranked 
up  close  to  Diodati  in  ability.  The  two  delegates  from 
Basle  to  that  synod  were  Beck  and  Meyer.  Beck  made 
an  address  at  the  synod  on  election  and  original  sin. 
After  his  return  he  always  called  the  synod  the  "most 
sacred  synod,"  and  took  off  his  hat  whenever  Dort  was 
mentioned.  Meyer,  the  other  delegate,  also  delivered 
an  address  there  on  the  perseverance  of  the  saints.  He 
has  left  a  most  remarkable  historical  memorial  of  the 
synod  in  his  Album,  which  gives  interesting  side-lights 
on  the  synod,  stating  the  theological  position  of  each 
member  of  the  synod.*  Both  of  these  delegates  had 
been  pupils  of  Polanus,  and  hence  were  strongly  Cal- 
vinistic. 

During  Wolleb's  antistesship  the  ministers  of  Basle 
were  called,   in   1625,  to  sign  the   Basle  confession,   in 

*  See  "Beytrage  zur  Kenntniss  der  Geschichte  der  Synode  von 

Dortrecht,"  Basle,  1825. 

146 


BASLE  147 

which  there  was  no  hesitancy,  as  by  this  time  the  Lutheran 
party  had  entirely  disappeared.  During  Wolleb's  period 
Basle  was  visited  by  a  prominent  prelate  of  the  Greek 
Church.  One  of  the  great  questions  of  that  day  was 
whether  the  great  Greek  Church  of  the  East  would 
take  sides  with  the  Catholics  or  with  the  Protestants. 
Cyril  Lucar  was  the  great  leader  of  that  church  who 
favored  closer  relations  with  the  Protestants,  especially 
the  Reformed,  and  it  was  his  visit  to  Basle  and  Wolleb 
that  made  this  favorable  impression  on  him.  But  he 
failed,  and  was  later  martyred.  Wolleb  died  of  the 
plague,  November  24,  1629. 

Wolleb  was  remarkable  for  the  clearness  and  brevity 
of  his  dogmatical  works.  He  differed  from  Polanus, 
who  emphasized  the  scholastic  subtleties  and  categories 
often  artificially  brought  in,  for  he  leaves  these  out  and 
draws  his  divisions  from  the  subject  itself.  His  most 
famous  work  was  his  Compendium  of  Theology  (1626). 
It  was  the  first  handbook  of  Reformed  theology.  Before 
it  the  students  had  to  use  the  large  works  of  dogmatics 
called  "Institutes"  or  "Common  Places,"  as  by  Calvin, 
Peter  Martyr  and  Zanchius.  His  Compendium  was  of 
masterly  brevity  and  perspicuity  and  became  so  popular 
that  it  passed  through  three  editions  in  twelve  years. 
It  was  translated  into  English  and  used  in  England  as 
a  textbook,  and  also  in  New  England  in  the  early  years 
of  Harvard  College. 

Section  2 

antistes  theodore  zwinger  (163o-54) 

He  was  born  at  Basle  in  1597.  Undecided  whether 
to  study  theology  or  medicine,  he  was  laid  on  a  sick-bed 
nigh  to  death.  He  then  vowed  that,  if  providence  would 
spare  his  life,  he  would  enter  the  ministry.  He  studied 
at  Basle  and  in  foreign  universities.     Calvin's  Institutes 


i48  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

was  his  favorite  work,  and  at  Heidelberg  he  had  a  dis- 
putation on  Election  whether  it  was  conditional  or  not. 
He  was,  therefore,  a  strong  Calvinist.  He  was  elected 
antistes  in  1630. 

The  most  important  event  during  his  antistesship  was 
the  adoption  by  Basle  of  the  Second  Helvetic  Confession. 
It  happened  that  a  new  edition  of  that  confession  was 
about  to  be  published.  Zurich  urged  Basle  to  adopt 
it,  so  that  the  new  edition  might  state  that  it  had  been 
adopted  by  all  the  Protestant  Swiss  cantons.  So  Basle 
adopted  it,  November  18,  1642,  seventy-eight  years  after 
its  first  publication.  Now  at  last  was  the  dream  of 
its  author,  Bullinger,  fulfilled,  that  it  should  be  adopted 
by  all  the  Swiss  Protestant  cantons  and  be  a  bond  of 
union  between  them. 

Another  important  innovation  that  he  brought  about, 
in  1642,  was  the  use  of  bread  instead  of  wafers  at  the 
Lord's  Supper.  The  French  Reformed  had  long  used 
bread,  and  it  had  been  permitted  to  be  used  in  the  French 
church  at  Basle.  Now  Zwinger  had  it  introduced  also 
into  the  German  churches.  In  connection  with  this,  he 
published  a  sermon,  to  which  was  added  a  history  of 
the  controversy  between  the  Lutherans  and  the  Reformed 
on  the  Lord's  Supper.  These  two  events  fully  committed 
Basle  to  the  Reformed  faith.  When  Dury,  the  apostle 
of  Church  union  in  the  seventeenth  century,  as  Bucer 
had  been  in  the  sixteenth,  came  to  Switzerland  to  try 
to  unite  the  Lutherans  and  Reformed,  although  Zurich 
and  Bern  were  favorable,  yet  Zwinger  opposed  him, 
saying  that  the  Reformed  ought  to  be  united  among 
themselves  before  they  tried  to  unite  with  the  Lutherans. 
He  published  a  dissertation  on  Romans  which  reveals 
his  high-Calvinism.  He  fully  sympathized  with  Buxdorf 
in  his  attack  on  Saumur.  He  died  December  27,  1654. 
He  was  a  man  of  strong  personality,  well  fitted  for 
leadership. 


BASLE 


149 


Section  3 
antistes  luke  gernler  (1656-75) 

He  was  born  August  19,  1625.  After  studying  at 
Basle,  he  went  abroad  for  travel  to  Geneva,  Paris,  Eng- 
land, Holland  and  Germany.  In  1653  he  was  made 
second  assistant  at  the  cathedral,  and  in  1656  elected 
antistes  at  the  early  age  of  thirty-one.  He  was  influential 
as  a  practical  leader.  He  increased  the  number  of  weekly 
services  and  had  severe  laws  passed  against  Sabbath- 
breaking,  especially  shooting  on  Sabbath.  Under  his  rec- 
torate  the  university  observed  its  200th  anniversary,  at 
which  he  delivered  a  memorial  address.  In  1666  he 
edited  the  Basle  liturgy  in  the  form  in  which  it  remained 
until  1826. 

But  he  was  a  dogmatician  as  well  as  a  practical 
executive.  He  was  one  of  the  theological  quartette  who 
led  to  the  drawing  up  of  the  Helvetic  Consensus,  Heid- 
egger of  Zurich,  Turretin  of  Geneva  and  Hummel  of 
Bern  being  the  other  three.  Indeed,  he  may  be  said  to 
have  in  some  sense  laid  the  basis  for  that  creed,  for  he, 
together  with  his  colleagues,  John  Buxdorf  and  J.  R. 
Wettstein,  prepared  a  dogmatical  work  which  was  in- 
tended to  serve  as  a  basis  for  the  weekly  disputation  of 
the  students.  It  took  up  the  very  points  which  were 
afterwards  taken  up  in  the  Helvetic  Consensus.  It  was 
entitled  "Syllabus  of  Controversies"  and  published  in 
1662.  It  contained  20  topics  and  588  theses.  It  was 
arranged  like  a  catechism,  in  the  form  of  questions  and 
answers.  Each  question  was  followed  by  an  affirmative 
or  negative  defence  of  their  position.  It  was  strongly 
Calvinistic  on  predestination  and  the  Lord's  Supper.  It 
exerted  a  great  influence  at  Basle,  but  nowhere  else. 
At  Basle  those  who  held  to  the  Helvetic  Confession  were 
called  Reformed,  but  those  who  held  to  the  Syllabus  were 
called  orthodox  Reformed.    Gernler  also  opposed  Dury's 


150  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

latter  efforts  at  union.     He  died  February  9,   1675,  of 
the  plague. 

Section  4 

the  professors  buxdore 

This  family  presented  to  Basle  a  succession  of  schol- 
ars. Its  founder,  John  Buxdorf,  the  older,  was  born 
in  Westphalia,  Germany,  December  25,  1564.  He  studied 
at  Heidelberg  and  Herborn.  At  Herborn,  Piscator  gave 
him  the  impulse  that  made  him  one  of  the  leading 
Hebrew  scholars  of  his  day.  He  aided  Piscator  in  the 
preparation  of  the  Old  Testament  of  the  Piscator  Bible, 
published  1602.  He  came  to  Basle  as  private  tutor,  and 
was  made  (1591)  professor  of  Old  Testament.  His 
fame  led  him  to  be  called  to  Saumur  in  161 1,  and  later 
to  Leyden.  His  epoch-making  book  was  his  Jewish 
Synagogue  (1603),  a  valuable  contribution  to  Jewish 
archaeology,  which  earned  for  him  the  gratitude  of  Jews 
as  well  as  Christians ;  indeed,  whole  synagogues  thanked 
him  for  it.  In  1607  he  published  his  Hebrew-Chaldee 
Lexicon,  which  went  through  six  editions  during  his  life- 
time, and  a  seventh  was  published  by  his  son.  In  1609 
he  began  a  Chaldee-Talmud  Lexicon,  which  his  son  fin- 
ished. He  was  called  by  his  admirers  the  greatest  Orien- 
talist of  his  day,  which  was  probably  true,  for  Hottinger 
was  now  dead,  and,  besides,  Hottinger  had  emphasized 
the  cognate  languages,  while  Buxdorf  had  emphasized 
rabbinical  literature.  He  wanted  to  utilize  the  rabbinical 
literature  so  as  the  better  to  explain  the  Old  Testament. 
His  great  aim  in  it  all  was  to  show  that  the  Hebrew 
text  as  the  bearer  of  the  Word  of  God  was  infallible. 
In  his  work  "Tiberias,"  he  attacked  the  view  that  the 
Masoritic  text  originated  in  the  sixth  century.  He  held 
it  was  older.  In  all  this  he  had  an  apologetical  aim, 
namely,  to  show  that  the  Protestants  had  an  older  text 


BASLE  151 

than  the  Catholics  in  their  Latin  version. 

His  intense  research  into  Jewish  lore  once  led  him 
into  trouble.  In  many  cities  Jews  were  not  permitted 
to  live  in  those  days,  but  he  had  been  permitted  by  the 
city  of  Basle  to  have  two  Jews  living  in  his  house,  so 
as  to  correct  his  works  on  the  Bible.  In  1619  the  wife 
of  one  of  them  had  a  son.  The  father  received  special 
permission  from  the  authorities  to  circumcise  him.  Bux- 
dorf  greatly  desired  to  see  this  rite.  He  secured  per- 
mission from  Glaser,  of  the  city  council,  to  be  an  eye- 
witness to  the  ceremony.  But  when  this  became  known, 
it  raised  a  storm  around  his  head.  That  Buxdorf,  a 
Christian  and  a  professor  of  theology,  should  thus  coun- 
tenance such  a  barbarous  rite  was  considered  the  height 
of  impropriety,  yes,  a  crime.  He  was  fined  100  florins, 
the  Jew  400  florins  and  Glaser  was  imprisoned  three 
days.  Buxdorf  died  of  the  plague,  September  13,  1629. 
He  was  the  most  learned  among  the  Protestants  in  rab- 
binical literature  and  was  called  the  "Master  of  the 
Rabbis." 

Great  as  was  the  elder  Buxdorf,  it  is  a  question 
whether  he  was  greater  than  his  son,  John  Buxdorf  the 
younger.  The  latter  was  born  at  Basle,  August  13,  1599. 
With  such  a  father  he  was  a  Hebraist  almost  from  birth. 
At  thirteen  he  entered  the  university,  and  at  sixteen  he 
received  the  degree  of  master.  When  only  a  young  man 
he  had  read  through  both  the  Jerusalem  and  the  Babylon 
Talmuds.  In  1617  he  went  to  Heidelberg,  and  in  1619 
visited  the  synod  of  Dort,  and  then,  with  the  Basle  dele- 
gates, visited  England.  Though  only  twenty-three  years 
of  age,  he  produced  a  Chaldee-Syriac  dictionary  (1622). 
Yet  he  went  to  Geneva  to  learn  more  Hebrew.  And  here 
appears  the  remarkable  fact  that  the  teacher  became 
the  pupil.  He  went  there  to  study  under  Turretin,  and 
lo !  Turretin  and  Clericus  take  lessons  of  him  in  Hebrew. 
After  his  father's  death  he  was  made  (1630)  professor  of 


152 


THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 


the  Old  Testament.  In  his  zeal  for  the  authority  of  the 
Old  Testament  text,  he  went  to  the  extreme  of  defending 
the  inspiration  of  the  vowel-points,  for  which  he  was 
attacked  (1645)  by  Cappel,  professor  in  the  theological 
school  at  Saumur.  In  1638  both  Leyden  and  Groningen 
gave  him  calls,  but  he  declined  them.  He  died  August 
17,  1664. 

Before  leaving  this  remarkable  family,  another  pro- 
fessor deserves  mention,  John  Jacob  Buxdorf,  the  son 
of  John  Buxdorf  the  younger.  He  became  professor  of 
Old  Testament  at  Basle  in  1664,  at  the  death  of  his 
father.  In  1665  he  travelled  extensively  to  Geneva, 
France  and  Holland.  In  England  he  had  to  flee  from 
the  great  London  fire  to  the  country  on  account  of  the 
hatred  of  the  Londoners  for  foreigners,  whom  they 
blamed  for  the  fire.  He  visited  Cambridge  and  Oxford, 
and  was  everywhere  received  with  honor.  He  returned 
to  Basle  in  1669  and  died  in  1704.  The  latter  was  suc- 
ceeded by  John  Buxdorf,  a  nephew  of  the  last  named, 
who  was  prominent  as  a  professor  at  Basle  (1704-32). 
Thus  the  Buxdorfs  gave  to  Basle  four  generations  of 
professors,  and  the  professorship  of  Hebrew  was  in  the 
Buxdorf  family  for  nearly  150  years. 


CHAPTER  III 
Bern 

Section   i 

dekan  john  henry  hummel 

Perhaps  the  most  prominent  representative  of  the 
Bern  church  in  the  sixteenth  century  was  the  above- 
named.  He  was  born  in  1611,  studied  at  Bern,  then 
travelled  to  Geneva,  France,  and,  almost  shipwrecked, 
was  driven  to  England,  from  which  country  he  went 
to  Holland.  He  was  made  dekan  of  the  Bern  Church  in 
1662.  Though  he  had  been  suspected  of  Arminianism 
because  he  had  studied  in  Holland,  yet  he  was  a  strong 
champion  of  thorough-going  Calvinism.  The  Bern 
Church  was  at  that  time  so  highly  Calvinistic  that  it  tried 
to  get  Maresius,  the  Dutch  professor,  who  was  the  oracle 
of  high-Calvinism,  to  come  to  Bern,  but  he  declined.  The 
Church  of  Bern  was  strongly  opposed  to  Cartesianism, 
and  in  1668  the  state  authorities  forbade  Cartesianism, 
which  Prof.  David  Wyss  had  introduced  in  1662.  But 
philosophy  cannot  be  repressed  by  law,  and  it  reappeared 
in  1689,  when  Professor  Leeman  again  began  lecturing 
on  it.  It  was  during  this  period  that  Hummel  was  the 
head  of  the  church.  He  strongly  opposed  Cartesianism. 
But,  though  so  strongly  Calvinistic,  he  yet  warmly  sup- 
ported the  efforts  of  Dury  for  church  union.  Dury  was 
so  pleased  with  him  that  he  wanted  to  take  him  with 
him  to  England,  so  as  to  further  the  cause  of  church 
union  before  Cromwell ;  but  Bern  refused  to  let  him  go. 
His  activity  for  the  formulation  of  the  Helvetic  Con- 
sensus will  appear  later.     He  died  March  8,  1674. 

153 


154 


THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 


Bern  also  had  a  great  Orientalist,  not  unworthy  to 
be  named  with  Hottinger  and  the  Buxdorfs,  John  Henry 
Ott.  His  rabbinical  dictionary  (1675)  gave  him  the  repu- 
tation of  being  one  of  the  best  authorities  on  rabbinical 
literature.  Prof.  Christopher  Luthardt,  who  died  in 
1663,  was  also  widely  known  for  his  polemical  writings. 

Section  2 

the  adoption  oe  the  piscator  bible  by  bern 

Bern  about  this  time  adopted  officially  a  Reformed 
Bible  called  the  Piscator  Bible,  so  as  to  conserve  her 
Calvinism.  In  the  Reformation  two  great  German  Bibles 
had  appeared,  the  Luther  and  the  Zurich.*  Bern  now, 
as  Zurich  then,  was  to  have  her  own  Bible.  This  question 
came  up  in  the  latter  part  of  the  seventeenth  century. 
The  cause  of  the  agitation  began  in  1660,  when  Zurich 
was  about  getting  out  a  new  edition  of  the  Zurich  Bible 
and  asked  Bern  to  join  her,  but  Bern  did  not  do  so. 
Twenty  years  later  the  matter  came  up  again,  for  at 
that  time  there  was  a  good  deal  of  confusion  caused 
by  the  use  of  three  Bibles,  the  Zurich,  the  Luther  and 
Piscator's.  Piscator  had  been  professor*  of  theology  at 
the  University  of  Herborn,  in  Germany,  and  a  son-in- 
law  of  Olevianus,  one  of  the  authors  of  the  Heidelberg 
Catechism.  He  was  a  very  learned  man,  especially  in 
Hebrew  and  dogmatics.  His  Bible  was  published  at 
Herborn  (1602-4),  an^  was  looked  upon  at  that  time 
as  a  rival  of  Luther's  Bible. f  The  Lutherans,  alarmed 
at  it,  nicknamed  it  the  God-punish-me  Bible  (the  Straf- 
mich-Gott  Bibel),  because  of  Piscator's  rather  free  trans- 

*  We  have  already  referred  to  the  Zurich  Bible  in  the  life  of 
Breitinger. 

t  See  Schlosser's  "Die  Piscator  Bible,"  Heidelberg,  1908,  and 
Mezger's  "Bibelubersetzungen  der  Schweiz,"  pages  284-302  and 
400-412. 


BERN 


155 


lation  of  Mark  8:12.  However,  this  addition  was  printed 
not  in  the  text,  but  at  the  end  of  that  verse  in  smaller 
letters,  and  probably  followed  Beza's  translation  of  Gen. 
14:20.  But  the  popular  diction  of  the  Luther  version 
made  it  retain  the  ascendency  in  Germany,  although  Pis- 
cator's  is  closer  to  the  original. 

Bern  did  not  adopt  the  Luther  Bible,  probably  because 
it  was  not  written  in  the  Swiss  dialect.  She  did  not, 
perhaps,  adopt  the  Zurich  Bible,  because  there  was  always 
a  good  deal  of  rivalry  between  these  two  cantons.  In- 
deed, when  Zurich  had  first  approached  Bern  to  adopt 
the  Zurich  Bible,  Bern  had  replied  that  Zurich  ought 
first  to  have  it  generally  adopted  in  Switzerland,  just 
as  the  Helvetic  Confession  had  been,  and  thus  made  it 
the  Swiss  Bible.  So,  finally,  Bern  cut  the  Gordian  knot 
between  the  Luther  and  the  Zurich  Bible  by  adopting 
neither  and  taking  the  Piscator  Bible.  This  was  doubt- 
less partly  due  to  the  fact  that  many  of  the  ministers 
of  Bern  had  studied  at  Herborn  under  Piscator,  and  many 
of  them  brought  back  with  them  the  Piscator  Bible. 
Another  reason  may  have  been  the  agreement  between 
Bern  and  Herborn  on  doctrine.  Both  were  Calvinistic, 
and  Bern  wanted  a  Calvinistic  Bible.  Perhaps  still  an- 
other reason  lay  in  the  fear  of  Cartesianism.  At  any  rate, 
on  February  28,  1681,  the  state  authorities  of  Bern  or- 
dered 8,000  copies  of  the  Piscator  translation  to  be 
published  in  Bern,  and  they  appeared  by  New  Year,  1684. 
This  Bible  remained  in  common  use  in  Bern  for  about 
two  hundred  years.  Nine  editions  of  it,  in  whole  or  in 
part,  were  published  between  1684  and  1848.  In  1755 
Mrs.  Esther  Bondeli  bore  the  expense  of  an  edition  whose 
introduction  was  written  by  the  celebrated  naturalist, 
Albert  Von  Haller.  But  since  1824  the  Luther  Bible 
began  to  be  introduced,  especially  as  the  translation  of 
it  made  by  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society  was 
sold  very  cheap.     And  in  1830  the  new  minister's  ordi- 


156  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

nance  officially  recognized  it.  In  the  other  cantons 
gradually  the  Luther  Bible  was  introduced,  until  it  is 
now  the  translation  in  general  use  in  German  Switzer- 
land, though  Zurich  still  uses  the  Zurich  Bible,  as  also 
does  Thurgau. 

Section  3 
the  amended  heidelberg  catechism  in  bern 

In  Switzerland,  while  all  the  cantons  united  under 
one  creed,  yet  each  canton  preserved  the  liberty  to  use 
its  own  catechism.  The  first  Protestant  catechism  pub- 
lished in  Switzerland  was  at  St.  Gall  (1527),  a  transla- 
tion of  the  catechism  of  the  Bohemian  Brethren ;  but  it 
never  came  into  popular  use.  Ecolampadius,  in  1528,  pub- 
lished a  catechism  at  Basle,  one  year  before  the  Smaller 
Catechism  of  Luther.  Zurich  had  no  catechism  during 
Zwingli's  life,  but  in  1534  Leo  Juda  published  his  Larger 
catechism  (in  which  the  scholar  asks  the  question  and 
the  minister  answers),  and  his  Smaller  catechism  in  1541. 
Bullinger  prepared  a  catechism  in  1559.  In  1609  the 
Zurich  catechism  was  published,  Baumler  being  its  author, 
and  in  it  he  united  Juda's  and  the  Heidelberg  catechism. 

Bern  at  first  used  Leo  Juda's.  In  1536  Megander 
published  a  revision  of  Juda's  as  the  official  catechism 
of  Bern,  and  the  next  year  the  Bucer-Megander  catechism 
appeared.  In  1581  an  abbreviation  of  it,  called  the  Little 
Bern  catechism,  was  composed  and  introduced  in  1582. 
In  1616  the  Heidelberg  catechism  was  by  law  introduced 
into  the  schools  and  became  the  popular  catechism  of  the 
canton  up  to  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century. 

Schaffhausen  used  Leo  Juda's  catechism,  then  Ulmer's 
(1562),  and  then  a  catechism  which  was  a  combination 
of  Juda's  and  Ulmer's.  The  Heidelberg  catechism  was 
officially  introduced  in  1663. 

The  Zurich  catechism  was  generally  used  in  the  dis- 


BERN  157 

tricts  around  Zurich  and  under  her  influence.  But  in  161 5 
the  Heidelberg  catechism  was  officially  introduced  into  the 
city  of  St.  Gall.  Appenzell,  Glarus  and  the  Grisons  used 
mainly  the  Zurich.  In  161 1  a  catechism  was  published 
in  the  Romansch  language,  a  combination  of  the  Zurich 
and  the  Heidelberg. 

Geneva  at  first  used  Calvin's  catechism,  first  published 
in  1536,  without  questions,  revised  in  1541  into  questions 
and  answers.  Neuchatel  and  Vaud  also  used  it,  but  in 
155 1  Bern  ordered  the  use  of  the  Megander  catechism, 
translated  into  French,  in  Vaud.  Afterwards  the  French 
translation  of  the  Heidelberg  was  used  in  Vaud.  Neu- 
chatel, which  was  so  closely  related  to  the  Church  of 
Vaud,  also  used  the  Heidelberg.  But  in  the  eighteenth 
century  Osterwald's  catechism  was  used  in  Neuchatel 
and  also  introduced  into  Vaud,  setting  aside  the  Heidel- 
berg. Calvin's  was  used  in  Geneva  till  in  the  eighteenth 
century,  when  other  catechisms  were  introduced. 

The  Heidelberg  catechism  was,  therefore,  officially 
used  in  Bern,  Vaud,  Schaffhausen  and  St.  Gall  and  to 
some  extent  in  Neuchatel,  Vaud  and  the  Grisons.  The 
only  canton  where  it  is  still  mainly  used  is  Schaffhausen, 
though  still  used  to  some  extent  in  Bern. 

An  interesting  peculiarity  of  the  Heidelberg  appeared 
in  the  canton  of  Bern.  In  the  official  edition  of  that 
catechism  there  was  a  notable  addition  made  to  the 
twenty-seventh  answer  about  providence.  It  was  not 
added  directly  on  to  the  answer,  but  was  placed  after 
the  proof-texts  to  that  answer  and  before  the  twenty- 
eighth  question.  The  addition  reads:  "And  although  sin 
(the  sins),  through  God's  providence,  was  controlled,  yet 
God  is  not  the  author  of  sin,  for  the  aim  distinguishes 
the  work.  See  examples  of  Joseph  and  his  brethren, 
Gen.  45:57-58;  David  and  Shimei,  2  Sam.  16:9-12; 
Christ  and  the  Jews,  Acts  2 :  23,  27,  28."  Professor  Zyro, 
in  his  edition  of  the  catechism  (1848),  adds  this  directly 


158  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

on  to  the  answer. 

A  very  interesting  question  comes  up  as  to  the  reason 
why  this  addition  was  made.  It  appears  to  be  a  relic 
of  the  days  when  Bern  was  very  highly  Calvinistic,  even 
supralapsarian,  as  in  the  days  of  Mluslin.  For  this  seems 
to  have  been  added  to  the  catechism  to  explain  an  objec- 
tion to  the  supralapsarian  view,  which  so  closely  tends 
toward  making  God  the  author  of  sin.  Over  against 
this,  the  answer  says  that  God  is  not  the  author  of  sin. 
It  is  strange,  however,  that  this  addition  was  continued 
in  the  catechism  so  long,  for  by  the  seventeenth  century 
lower  views  of  Calvinism  were  popular  in  Bern,  and  in 
the  nineteenth  century  Calvinism  fell  away  as  the  Second 
Helvetic  Confession  was  given  up.  But  the  catechism 
has  never  been  officially  revised  so  as  to  leave  it  out. 


CHAPTER  IV 
Geneva 

Section  i 
the  earey  orthodoxy  under  spanheim  and  turretin 

Frederick  Spanheim,  in  1626,  succeeded  Diodati  as 
the  leading  theological  professor  at  Geneva.  Under  him 
Geneva  remained  true  to  the  high-Calvinism  of  Beza  and 
Diodati.  Spanheim  it  was  who  sounded  the  first  note  of 
warning  against  the  newer  views  of  the  theological  school 
of  Saumur  in  1635  by  writing  against  Amyraut.  In  1637 
Diodati,  who  was  still  living,  Tronchin  and  Turretin 
unitedly  warned  the  synod  of  France  against  Amyraut. 
Spanheim  left  Geneva  for  Leyden  in  1641,  but  his  place 
as  a  leader  was  ably  filled  by  Francis  Turretin. 

Francis  Turretin*  was  the  descendent  of  a  Protestant 
refugee  from  Italy  and  the  son  of  Prof.  Benedict  Turre- 
tin, professor  of  theology  with  Diodati.  He  was  born 
October  17,  1623,  at  Geneva,  where  he  studied,  and  then 
studied  in  Holland  and  France.  At  Saumur  he  heard  the 
professors  who  were  declared  heretical  by  the  Swiss 
theologians,  but  he  continued  true  to  the  Calvinistic  views 
of  his  father.  Still  he  differed  from  the  older  Calvinism, 
which  was  so  largely  influenced  by  supralapsarianism, 
for  he  was  an  adherent  of  the  new  and  lower  Calvinism 
of  Cocceianism,  which  he  heard  in  the  university  in 
Holland.  It  seemed  to  be  his  mission  as  a  dogmatician 
to  take  Calvin's  theology  and  restate  it  according  to  the 
Cocceian  views.    On  his  return  to  Geneva  he  was  at  first 

*  See  Bude,  "Vie  de  Frangois  Turretin,"  1871. 
159 


160  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

pastor  of  the  Italian  church  at  Geneva.  In  1653  he  was 
elected  professor  of  theology  and  soon  became  the  leader 
of  the  Venerable  Company  of  Geneva,  which  controlled 
the  doctrine  and  worship  of  that  church.  In  1661  he  was 
sent  to  Holland,  as  his  father  had  been  forty  years  before, 
to  enlist  the  aid  of  the  Dutch  in  fortifying  Geneva  against 
the  Catholic  powers.  In  this  he  was  very  successful,  and 
the  Dutch  voted  75,000  florins  for  that  purpose.  During 
his  stay  in  Holland  he  gained  a  great  reputation  among 
the  Dutch,  who  tried  to  retain  him  as  pastor,  but  in  vain. 
He  died  September  28,  1687.  His  chief  work  was  his 
Institutes  of  Theology  (1679-85),  which  is  still  a  stan- 
dard theological  work  in  the  nineteenth  century,  and  was 
republished  in  Scotland  in  1841.  His  life  will  be  further 
given  in  the  controversies  about  the  Helvetic  Consensus, 
in  which  he  was  one  of  the  leaders. 

Section  2 
the   entrance   of   the   doctrines   of   saumur    into 

GENEVA 

As  Geneva  spoke  French,  it  was  natural  that  it  should 
be  the  place  where  the  new  doctrines  of  Saumur  would 
first  find  entrance.  Many  of  the  Genevese  ministers  had 
studied  at  Saumur.  But  the  first  controversy  that  ap- 
peared was  not  about  Salmurianism  (as  the  doctrines 
of  Saumur  were  called),  but  about  Cartesianism  in  1642. 
Alexander  Morus  was  a  Genevese  by  birth,  but  when 
he  came  back  to  Geneva  from  his  foreign  studies  in  1641, 
the  Venerable  Company  was  suspicious  of  his  Arminian- 
ism  and  for  a  year  refused  to  ordain  him.  Yet  the  next 
year  the  city  council  elected  him  in  Spanheim's  place  as 
professor.  He  became  very  popular  and  gradually  be- 
came less  prudent  and  began  attacking  his  Calvinistic 
colleagues,  especially  the  supralapsarians.  The  contro- 
versy broke  out  in  1646  and  lasted  for  three  years.    Morus 


GENEVA  161 

resigned  in  1649  and  went  to  Holland.  But  before  he 
was  allowed  to  receive  his  dismissal  he  was  required  to 
subscribe  to  a  series  of  articles  arranged  in  the  form 
of  theses  and  antitheses.  These  articles,  called  "the  arti- 
cles of  Morus,"  as  we  shall  see  later,  play  an  important 
part  in  the  controversy  about  creed  subscription  in 
Geneva.  They  were  also  the  first  step  toward  forming 
the  Helvetic  Consensus,  even  before  Gernler's  Syllabus. 
Indeed,  they  might  be  called  the  germ  of  that  creed, 
although  Gernler's  Syllabus  gave  much  of  its  contents, 
which  Heidegger  finally  enlarged  into  the  creed. 

For  ten  years  there  was  peace,  and  Geneva  supposed 
that  in  getting  rid  of  Morus  she  had  gotten  rid  of  con- 
troversy. But  she  had  only  gotten  to  the  beginning  of  it, 
for  in  Morus'  place  came  Mestrezat,  an  adherent  of  Sau- 
mur.  This  alarmed  the  Calvinists.  Before  1659,  Leger, 
professor  of  theology,  made  the  first  suggestion  to  antistes 
Ulrich,  of  Zurich,  of  a  new  creed  for  all  Switzerland. 
In  1659  Turretin  had  the  subscription  made  stricter, 
requiring  adherence  in  limited  atonement  and  the  im- 
mediate imputation  of  Adam's  sin.  Yet,  in  spite  of  this, 
when  Leger  died  (1661),  another  adherent  of  Saumur, 
Louis  Tronchin,  was  elected  professor  of  theology.  But 
a  still  greater  influence  toward  lowering  the  Calvinism 
of  Geneva  than  any  of  the  previously  mentioned  events 
was  the  election  of  Chouet  as  professor  of  philosophy. 

However,  even  before  it,  a  collision  took  place,  for 
the  liberal  party  was  growing  in  numbers  and  influence 
and  only  waited  for  an  opportunity  to  show  its  strength. 
On  June  11,  1669,  when  Charles  Maurice,  a  minister, 
was  required  to  sign  the  oath  against  the  errors  of  Sau- 
mur, Tronchin  and  Mestrezat  declared  their  consciences 
forbade  them  to  exact  such  a  subscription,  as  they  ad- 
hered to  the  doctrines  it  disallowed.  Four  pastors  stood 
with  them.     Outvoted  in  the  Venerable  Company,  they 

carried  it  to  the  city  council.    The  decision  of  the  council 
11 


162  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

was  a  compromise.  It  ordered  them  to  teach  according 
to  the  standards,  but  not  to  do  so  polemically.  This 
tolerated  the  liberals,  but  forbade  the  conservatives  to 
attack  them.  This  action  raised  a  great  storm  in  Switzer- 
land. Zurich,  Basle,  Bern  and  SchafFhausen  declared, 
July  30,  1669,  that  unless  it  was  repealed  they  would 
recall  their  students  from  Geneva.  This  action  of  the 
Protestant  Swiss  caused  a  tremendous  sensation  in 
Geneva,  and  the  doctrines  of  limited  and  universal  atone- 
ment were  discussed  everywhere,  even  in  the  markets. 
The  council  then,  August  4,  1669,  returned  to  the  old 
subscription  on  the  articles  of  Morus  and  ordered  con- 
troversy to  cease.  It  was  now  supposed  that  everything 
was  quiet.  But  twelve  days  had  not  passed  when  the 
professor  of  philosophy,  Wyss,  died,  and  in  the  election 
of  his  successor  the  whole  matter  was  opened  up  again. 
Chouet,  who  was  elected,  was  an  outspoken  Cartesian. 
When  he  was  required  to  sign  the  articles  of  Morus, 
he  replied  that  he  taught  philosophy  and  not  theology. 
So  the  subscription  was  lowered,  that  when  he  presented 
theological  subjects  he  would  teach  according  to  the  old 
Reformed  creed.  But  his  method  undermined  the  older 
Calvinism  and  he  led  to  a  revolution  of  thought.  His 
influence  was  also  increased  by  his  election  as  a  syndic 
of  Geneva,  which  position  he  held  for  many  years.  The 
Calvinistic  party  was  now  thoroughly  alarmed,  and  Tur- 
retin  wrote  to  Heidegger,  November  6,  1669,  suggesting 
a  new  confession  to  which  subscription  should  be  required. 
In  1671  the  controversy  broke  out  again.  Mussard, 
a  Genevan  by  birth  (married  to  the  granddaughter  of 
Beza),  who  had  been  pastor  at  Lyons,  France,  returned 
to  Geneva.  He  refused  to  sign  the  articles  of  Morus. 
He  was  allowed  to  live  at  Geneva,  but  not  to  preach. 
Finally,  after  six  years'  residence  at  Geneva,  he  left  for 
London.  From  1671  there  was  continual  controversy  at 
Geneva   about   the   new   creed.      For   the   Calvinists   of 


GENEVA  163 

Geneva  were  not  satisfied  with  banishing  the  adherents 
of  Saumur.  They  wanted  all  Switzerland  to  do  so,  too, 
and  so  they  began  moving  for  a  new  creed. 


CHAPTER  V 

The   Formulation   and  Adoption  of  the   Helvetic 
Consensus 

Section  i 

the  formulation  of  the  consensus 

WE  have  seen  that  the  theological  affairs  in  Switzer- 
land had  come  to  a  crisis.  So  a  meeting  of  the  different 
theological  leaders  of  Switzerland,  as  Heidegger  of 
Zurich,  Gernler  of  Basle,  Hummel  of  Bern  and  Ott  of 
Schaffhausen,  was  held  at  Baden  in  1669.  But,  while 
all  agreed  on  the  desirability  of  a  new  creed,  they  were 
not  in  agreement  in  regard  to  its  contents.  Some  wanted 
a  general  creed,  like  the  Helvetic  Confession;  others,  a 
special  creed  dealing  with  the  special  doctrines  in  con- 
troversy. Even  the  cantons  were  divided.  Thus  in  Basle, 
for  instance,  Professor  Wettstein  wanted  a  general  creed, 
Gernler,  a  special.  The  majority  agreed  on  a  special 
creed.  But  here  again  they  were  divided.  All  agreed  that 
it  should  be  directed  against  the  doctrines  of  Saumur,  but 
some  wanted  the  Cocceian  doctrines  also  disavowed.  On 
this  point  Zurich  was  divided.  Heidegger  wanted  only 
the  Saumur  doctrines  disallowed,  but  a  strong  party 
wanted  Cocceianism  also  set  aside.  Some  also  wanted 
the  doctrines  of  Piscator  (on  the  imputation  of  only 
Christ's  passive  obedience)  to  be  also  denounced. 
Finally  the  theologians  came  to  some  agreement,  and 
on  the  advice  of  Basle  they  decided  that  the  creed  should 
be  against  doctrines  and  not  against  persons,  and  there- 
fore no  damnatory  clauses  should  be  in  it,  as  in  the 
Lutheran  Formula  of   Concord.     It  was   evident   from 

164 


THE  HELVETIC  CONSENSUS  165 

this  that  the  construction  of  the  creed  would  be  a  more 
difficult  matter  than  at  first  supposed.  It  was  finally  also 
decided  that  it  should  only  be  against  the  doctrine  of 
Saumur.  In  June,  1674,  the  Evangelical  diet  took  up 
the  matter  and  ordered  the  creed  to  be  drawn  up.  But 
now  came  the  question  as  to  who  should  draw  it  up. 
Heidegger  was  asked  to  do  it,  but  he  wanted  Gernler  to 
be  its  author.  If  Gernler  had  drawn  it  up,  it  would 
probably  have  been  more  drastic,  if  we  may  judge  from 
the  Syllabus  of  Controversies  he  had  prepared.  But 
providence  settled  the  question,  for  Hummel  and  Gernler 
died  and  Turretin  did  not  belong  to  the  Protestant  Swiss 
states,  as  he  was  a  Genevese.  So  the  only  one  left  to 
do  it  was  Heidegger,  and  he  was  ordered  by  the  Swiss 
diet  to  prepare  it.  This  was  the  more  suitable,  as  Zurich 
was  the  mother-church  of  the  Reformed,  and  up  to  this 
time  retained  to  some  extent  her  commanding  position. 
Heidegger  prepared  a  Latin  sketch  of  it,  which  he  sub- 
mitted to  the  Zurich  ministers  for  their  suggestions. 
They  made  its  mildness  sharper,  and  in  that  form  it  was 
presented  to  the  Swiss  diet  at  its  meeting,  March,  1675.* 
The  creed  consisted  of  26  articles.  It  expressed  itself 
against : 

1.  The  doctrine  of  Capellus,  that  the  vowel-points 
of  the  Hebrew  were  not  inspired. 

2.  The  doctrine  of  Amyraut,  of  so-called  hypothet- 
ical election  and  universal  atonement. 

3.  The  doctrine  of  Placaeus,  who  denied  the  imme- 
diate imputation  of  Adam's  sin  to  his  descendants  and 
held  to  the  mediate  imputation. 

But,  while  it  warned  against  the  errors  of  Saumur, 
it  did  not  contain  damnatory  clauses  or  call  its  opponents 
heretics,  as  did  the  Lutheran  Formula  of  Concord.     Its 

*  Ochs'  "History  of  Basle,"  Vol.  VII,  page  125,  intimates 
that  Heidegger  was  the  redactor  of  the  Creed,  rather  than  its 
author. 


166  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

preface  even  calls  them  "venerable  brethren  in  Christ." 
Some  held  it  was  not  a  new  creed,  but  only  an  explana- 
tion of  the  old  creed,  the  Second  Helvetic.  But  it  goes 
beyond  that,  for  that  allows  room  for  universal  atonement, 
which  this  denounces.  This  creed  is  the  clearest  state- 
ment of  scholastic  Calvinism,  and  is  the  highest  of  the 
Calvinistic  creeds. 

This  creed  not  only  differs  from  the  other  Swiss  creeds 
as  to  its  doctrine,  but  it  also  differed  in  the  method  of 
its  subscription.  Thus,  when  the  Canons  of  Dort  were 
to  be  subscribed  to,  a  liberal  sort  of  interpretation  was 
allowed  to  them,  or  else  Martinius  of  Bremen  and  the 
British  delegates  would  not  have  subscribed.  But  the 
subscription  to  the  Helvetic  Consensus  was  not  allowed 
to  be  lowered  in  any  way. 

Section  2 
its  adoption  by  the  swiss  cantons 

This  creed  having  been  drawn  up,  the  various  cantons 
proceeded  to  adopt  it.  Basle  led  the  way  and  adopted 
it  March  6,  1675,  though  Professor  Wettstein  refused 
to  sign  it.  He  was,  however,  excused  in  view  of  the 
fact  that  he  promised  not  to  teach  anything  contrary 
to  it. 

Zurich  adopted  it  next,  but  not  without  a  controversy, 
for  there  was  a  strong  party  there  who  thought  the 
creed  was  not  high-Calvinistic  enough,  led  by  Prof. 
John  Muller  and  antistes  Waser.  They  wanted  Cocceian- 
ism  also  condemned,  as  well  as  the  doctrines  of  Saumur ; 
but  the  Evangelical  diet  refused  this  in  1674.  Still  Muller 
went  so  far  as  to  draw  up  another  creed  behind  Heideg- 
ger's back,  which  he  handed  to  the  burgomaster  of 
the  city.  Against  this  Heidegger  and  his  friends  pro- 
tested. When  the  Consensus  was  adopted  by  Zurich, 
March   13,   1675,   Muller  still  continued  his  opposition. 


THE  HELVETIC  CONSENSUS  167 

In  August  of  that  year,  while  Heidegger  was  away  from 
Zurich,  he  and  his  friends  held  a  conference  and  endeav- 
ored to  alter  Article  VIII  of  the  Consensus,  where  he 
said  what  belonged  to  the  gospel  was  attributed  to  the 
law.  Heidegger  replied  that  the  law  was  not  referred 
to,  but  the  law  as  fulfilled  in  Christ — besides,  the  Con- 
sensus could  not  now  be  changed,  as  it  had  been  adopted 
by  the  other  cantons  as  well  as  by  Zurich.  Finally  the 
burgomaster  found  a  compromise.  The  Helvetic  Con- 
sensus was  to  remain,  but  an  explanation  of  Article 
VIII  was  to  be  placed  in  the  archives.  But,  although 
the  high-Calvinists  did  not  gain  their  point,  they  made 
it  hot  for  Heidegger  and  his  friends.  Their  ministers 
denounced  Heidegger's  views  from  the  pulpit.  Up  to 
1680  he  had  to  pass  through  seven  such  controversies. 
He  and  his  friends,  J.  H.  Schweitzer  and  Lavater,  pro- 
fessor of  philosophy,  were  not  able  to  get  anything  pub- 
lished at  Zurich  without  its  being  confiscated  or  delayed 
in  some  way  by  the  city  censor  or  by  complaint  before 
the  city  council.  We  thus  see  how  that  high-Calvinistic 
creed  was  not  high  enough  for  Zurich. 

Bern  adopted  the  Consensus  at  the  beginning  of  June, 
1675,  though  there  was  some  opposition  by  some  of 
the  French  ministers  in  the  district  of  Vaud,  who  sympa- 
thized with  Saumur.  Only  one  minister,  however,  re- 
fused to  subscribe,  Saurin.  He  was  excused  on  promis- 
ing not  to  teach  anything  contrary  to  it. 

Schaffhausen  then  subscribed  to  it,  and  this  move- 
ment continued  until  by  the  end  of  the  year  1676  it  had 
been  adopted  by  Biel,  Appenzell,  Glarus  and  the  Grisons. 
Muhlhausen  signed  it  later. 

Neuchatel,  though  not  a  part  of  Switzerland,  yet  was 
so  close  to  it  geographically  and  so  sympathetically  with 
it  ecclesiastically  that  it  generally  conformed  to  the  Swiss 
churches.  But  here  we  find  an  opposition  to  the  sub- 
scription   to    the    Consensus.     This    was    led    by    John 


l6&  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

Rudolph  Osterwald,  who  said,  "Have  we  not  a  sufficient 
safeguard  in  the  canons  of  Dort?  Are  they  not  suffi- 
cient?" He  also  objected  to  the  inspiration  of  the  vowel- 
points  in  the  Consensus.  He  carried  great  influence  in 
the  canton.  Meanwhile,  however,  Bern  used  every  in- 
fluence to  get  Neuchatel  to  subscribe  to  it.  Finally,  so 
that  the  Church  of  Neuchatel  might  not  seem  to  be  out 
of  harmony  with  their  neighboring  Swiss  brethren,  the 
classis  ordered  (1676)  their  doyen  or  head-minister  to 
sign  it  in  the  name  of  the  church.  But  no  individual 
subscription  to  it  was  required  of  any  other  minister,  as 
in  the  other  cantons. 

While  Zurich  tended  to  consider  the  Helvetic  Con- 
sensus too  low,  Geneva  thought  it  too  high  in  its  Cal- 
vinism. Here  it  was  not  merely  a  minister  or  two,  as 
at  Basle  and  Vaud,  who  refused  to  subscribe,  but  there 
was  a  strong  party  opposed  to  it,  led  by  Professors 
Tronchin  and  Mestrezat.  When  all  the  cantons  except 
Geneva  had  adopted  it,  great  pressure  was  brought  to 
bear  on  Geneva  by  the  other  cantons.  But  still  she  was 
not  ready.  It  was  especially  the  inspiration  of  the  vowel- 
points  in  the  Helvetic  Consensus  that  provoked  opposi- 
tion. Heidegger  then  wrote  to  Tronchin  and  Mestrezat, 
saying  that  the  Consensus  was  not  really  a  new  creed 
as  much  as  an  appendix  to  the  old  Swiss  creed ;  and,  as 
to  the  vowel-points,  that  part  of  the  creed  was  intended 
only  to  guard  the  authenticity  and  integrity  of  the  original 
text  and  did  not  decide  grammatical  or  critical  questions. 
With  this  lowered  explanation,  the  creed  was  finally 
approved  by  the  Venerable  Company  February  22,  1678, 
and  in  1679  the  council  (four  years  after  its  publication) 
adopted  it,  however,  imposing  some  criticisms  against 
its  views  about  the  inspiration  of  the  vowel-points  and 
quoting  Zwingli,  Calvin  and  Luther  as  admitting  that  the 
vowel-points  were  a  later  addition,  and  therefore  not 
inspired. 


Prof.  John  Henry  Heidegger 


Prof.  John  Alphonse  Turretin 


Antistes  Luke   Gernler 


Prof.  Francis   Turretin 


Antistes  Samuel   Werenfels  Rev.  John  Frederick  Osterwald 


PART  II 

THE  DISAVOWAL  OF  THE  HELVETIC  CONSENSUS 

CHAPTER  I 

The  Influences  that  Led  to  Its  Disavowal 

The  Helvetic  Consensus  was  used  for  about  a  half 
a  century,  but  gradually  one  canton  after  another  gave  it 
up.  Some  openly  disavowed  it.  In  others,  as  in  Appen- 
zell  and  Schaft'hausen,  it  became  a  dead  letter  without 
formal  disavowal,  as  subscription  was  no  longer  required 
to  it.  Switzerland  gradually  went  back  to  its  old  creed, 
the  Second  Helvetic.  The  disavowal  of  the  Consensus 
was  mainly  due  to  two  causes,  one  from  without,  the  other 
from  within.  The  first  was  the  influence  of  foreign 
princes  and  governments;  the  second  was  the  growth 
of  a  more  liberal  spirit  in  the  Swiss  churches. 

Section  i 

the  intervention  of  foreign  princes 

As  early  as  February  27,  1686,  Elector  Frederick 
William  of  Brandenburg  had  written  a  letter  to  Switzer- 
land against  subscription  to  the  Consensus.  He  did  so 
because  the  French  ministers,  many  of  them  adherents 
of  Saumur,  who  had  been  driven  out  of  France  by  the 
Revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes,  had  come  into  the 
district  of  Vaud,  in  canton  Bern.  They  had  been  re- 
quired by  the  Bernese  government  to  subscribe  to  the 
Consensus  before  they  were  allowed  to  preach  The 
Elector  protested  against  this  in  the  name  of  religious 

169 


I70  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

liberty,  for  which  Brandenburg  had  stood  ever  since  it 
had  become  Reformed  in  1613,  and  also  because  he  felt 
that  the  dangerous  position  of  Protestantism  just  at  that 
time  required  union  and  not  division  The  four  Evan- 
gelical cantons  replied  to  this  letter  May  6,  1686,  that, 
while  subscription  to  the  Helvetic  Consensus  was  required, 
yet  those  who  did  not  sign  it  would  not  be  denounced 
as  heretics,  but  treated  as  brethren  In  1706,  when 
Geneva  gave  up  the  Consensus,  the  King  of  Prussia, 
the  successor  of  the  Elector  of  Brandenburg,  wrote  a 
letter  thanking  Geneva  for  having  done  so 

But  it  was  in  1722  that  a  concerted  movement  was 
made  by  the  foreign  powers  to  get  Switzerland  to  give 
up  the  Consensus.  In  this  effort  two  theologians  of 
Switzerland  were  prominent,  J.  A.  Turretin,  the  son  of 
Francis  Turretin  of  Geneva,  and  Osterwald  of  Neucha- 
tel.  Both  of  these  had  been  in  correspondence  with  Ger- 
many and  England.  Osterwald,  having  learned  that  Bern 
in  1722  was  about  proceeding  severely  against  those  who 
could  not  subscribe,  wrote  to  Berlin  and  London.  Their 
rulers  then  wrote  to  Switzerland,  interceding.  Bern 
afterward  charged  the  Vaud  classis,  which  was  French, 
with  having  provoked  the  intervention  of  foreign  princes. 
But  it  was  really  Osterwald  who  had  done  it.  Because 
of  letters  received  from  the  King  of  Prussia,  also  from 
the  Evangelical  states  of  Germany,  and  from  the  King 
of  England,  the  matter  came  up  before  the  Evangelical 
diet  of  Switzerland,  July  1,  1722.  But  the  conservative 
cantons,  Zurich  and  Bern,  were  on  their  guard  and  in- 
structed their  delegates  not  to  agree  to  any  action  setting 
aside  the  Consensus.    So  it  did  not  carry  in  that  diet. 

While  this  intervention  of  the  foreign  princes  came 
so  near  bringing  matters  to  a  crisis,  yet  their  efforts 
would  have  been  unsuccessful  had  there  not  been  an 
influential  party  in  Switzerland  opposed  to  the  Consensus. 
Three  men  arose  to  lead  Switzerland  to  give  it  up.    They 


BASLE 


171 


were  the  so-called  theological  triumvirate.  Just  as  there 
had  been  a  theological  quartette  who  had  led  to  the  draw- 
ing up  of  the  Consensus,  Heidegger,  Gernler,  Hummel 
and  F.  Turretin,  so  now  the  triumvirate  consisted  of  S. 
Werenfels  of  Basle,  J.  A.  Turretin  of  Geneva,  and  Os- 
terwald  of  Neuchatel.  Each  emphasized  a  particular 
aspect  of  this  more  liberal  movement — Turretin,  the  in- 
tellectual; Werenfels,  the  experimental,  and  Osterwald, 
the  ethical. 

Section  2 
werenfels  and  its  rejection  at  basle 

The  first  church  to  adopt  the  Consensus  was  the  first 
church  to  set  it  aside.  As  early  as  1686,  when  the  Great 
Elector  of  Brandenburg  had  protested  against  subscrip- 
tion to  the  Consensus,  Basle,  under  antistes  Peter  Weren- 
fels, had  declared  that  subscription  was  not  obligatory. 
But  it  was  antistes  Samuel  Werenfels  who  brought  about 
its  official  disavowal  in  1706. 

Samuel  Werenfels  was  born  March  1,  1657.  He  was 
the  son  of  antistes  Peter  Werenfels  (antistes  1675-1703), 
and  studied  at  Basle  and  then  at  Zurich,  Bern,  Lausanne 
and  Geneva.  He  then  became  professor  of  rhetoric  at 
Basle.  That  was  the  day  of  Massillon,  Bourdaloue  and 
Bossuet,  when  great  stress  was  laid  on  the  form  of  the 
discourse.  Werenfels  sympathized  with  this  and  aimed 
to  make  his  pupils  polished  orators.  He  became  pastor 
of  the  French  church  at  Basle  in  171 1,  and  his  published 
sermons  in  French  remind  one  of  Tillotson's  and  Saur- 
in's  in  their  elegance.  But  with  it  all  he  was  deeply 
spiritual  and  combined  in  a  rare  degree  the  rhetorical 
or  the  outward  with  the  spiritual  or  experimental.  In 
1696  he  visited  Neuchatel  and  Geneva,  thus  coming  into 
intimate  relations  with  Osterwald  and  J.  A.  Turretin. 
He  became  professor  of  theology    (1696),   but   had   a 


172 


THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 


horror  of  polemics  in  theology.  He  appears,  therefore, 
as  a  second  Erasmus  of  Basle,  a  Reformed  Melancthon 
who  hated  the  "rage  of  the  theologians."  He  taught 
Biblical  theology  rather  than  the  theology  of  the  creeds. 
In  1703  he  was  promoted  to  be  professor  of  Old  Testa- 
ment, and  (1711)  to  be  professor  of  the  New  Testament. 
In  these  he  endeavored  to  promote  a  sound  hermeneutics 
by  the  introduction  of  the  grammatical-historical  method. 
He  favored  the  union  of  the  Lutherans  and  Reformed, 
and  was  so  liberal  in  spirit  that  a  few  days  before  his 
death  he  declared  that  Basle  had  done  wrong  in  refusing 
to  let  Count  Zinzendorf,  the  head  of  the  Moravians, 
preach  in  the  cathedral.  But,  though  so  liberal  to  Protest- 
ants, he  was  yet  a  strong  polemist  against  the  Catholics. 
With  such  liberal  views  he  was,  of  course,  out  of  sym- 
pathy with  the  narrow  spirit  of  the  Helvetic  Consensus. 
Indeed,  he  preferred  to  have  predestination  banished 
from  the  pulpit,  and  only  retained  it  as  a  bulwark  against 
Socinianism.  In  his  theses  he  is  uncertain  between  con- 
ditional and  unconditional  election — he  seems  to  want 
to  retain  it  in  some  form  and  yet  liberalize  it.  He  was 
like  Schliermacher,  a  syncretic  theologian — trying  to 
unite  diverse  theological  elements. 

In  1722  Werenfels,  together  with  the  professors  and 
pastors,  brought  a  memorial  to  the  council  asking  that 
the  Helvetic  Consensus  be  set  aside,  as  it  contained  no 
important  element  of  faith,  but  dwelt  mainly  on  unneces- 
sary causes  of  division.  So  Basle  set  it  aside.  Werenfels 
was  widely  known,  having  been  elected  a  professor  at 
Franeker,  which  he  declined,  and  also  a  member  of  the 
Berlin  Academy  of  Sciences  and  of  the  Society  for  the 
Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  London.  He  died  June  1, 
1740.  In  1739  he  published  his  "Opuscula  theologia- 
philosophica-philologica." 


GENEVA  173 

Section  3 
j.  alphonse  turretin  and  its  disavowal  at  geneva 

We  have  already  seen  that  there  was  a  strong  party 
opposed  to  the  Consensus  at  Geneva.  This  liberal  party 
grew,  while  the  old  Calvinistic  leaders  gradually  died 
off.  It  was,  however,  when  Francis  Turretin  died  (1687) 
that  everything  seemed  to  change.  It  is  true  there  still 
remained  a  strong  Calvinistic  party,  led  by  Professors 
Pictet  and  Calendrini.  But  the  great  moving  spirit  of 
the  church  was  Prof.  J.  A.  Turretin. 

John  Alphonse  Turretin*  was  born  at  Geneva,  August 
24,  1671.  He  studied  at  Geneva.  He  was  a  precocious 
youth  and  soon  outdistanced  his  fellow-students  and 
astonished  his  teachers.  Tronchin,  when  he  heard  him 
preach,  said,  "This  young  man  begins  where  others  left 
off."  He  was  greatly  influenced  by  Chouet,  who  instilled 
in  him  the  clearness  and  precision  of  thought  which  made 
him  a  fine  critical  scholar.  Just  at  the  critical  time  of  his 
life,  at  the  age  of  sixteen,  his  father  died.  This  removed 
from  him  any  conservative  influence  that  would  have 
kept  him  in  the  older  Calvinism.  Naturally  inclined 
toward  liberality  of  thought,  he  came  more  and  more 
under  the  influence  of  Tronchin  instead  of  retaining 
the  inflexibility  of  his  father.  In  1691  he  went  to  Hol- 
land to  study  church  history  under  Spanheim,  and  before 
he  left  Leyden  he  had  already  made  himself  famous 
by  his  masterly  refutation  (1692)  of  Bossuet's  work 
on  the  divisions  of  Protestants.  He  then  travelled  to 
England,  where  he  learned  to  know  Isaac  Newton  and 
Wake,  the  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  whose  hobby  was 
the  reunion  of  Christendom  (but  under  an  Episcopal 
government).  This  made  a  lasting  impression  on  him,  as 
we  shall  see.  He  returned  by  way  of  Paris  to  Geneva 
(1693)  and  entered  the  ministry.    It  was  when  subscrib- 

*  See  Bude,  "Vie  de  J.  Alphonse  Turretin,"  1880. 


174  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

ing  to  the  Helvetic  Consensus  that  his  spirit  rebelled, 
and  he  was  seized  with  a  resolution  that  he  would  some 
day  do  away  with  that  subscription.  He  soon  became 
the  most  popular  preacher  in  the  city,  because  he  com- 
bined the  excellencies  of  the  French  and  English  styles 
of  composition  and  oratory.  In  1697  a  chair  of  church- 
history  was  created  for  him.  From  1701-11  he  was 
rector  of  the  university,  and  in  1705  he  was  elected  pro- 
fessor of  theology  in  Tronchin's  place.  With  his  en- 
trance on  the  professorship  a  new  era  began  to  dawn. 
Already,  in  1696,  a  storm  broke  out  against  his  teach- 
ings, and  he  was  charged  with  Socinianism.  As  a  result 
Bern  refused  to  send  any  more  students  to  Geneva. 
Geneva  denied  their  accusation  and  the  Venerable  Com- 
pany forbade  heresy.  But  Turretin  generally  pursued 
great  tact  in  introducing  his  views.  Still  his  teachings 
gained  such  influence  over  his  students  that  in  a  few 
years  it  became  possible  to  abolish  subscription  to  the 
Consensus.  In  1699  he  visited  Werenfels  at  Basle  and 
Osterwald  at  Neuchatel.  Thus  was  promoted  the  friend- 
ship that  made  these  three  the  theological  triumvirate 
to  repeal  the  Consensus.  Through  his  influence,  in  1703, 
subscription  to  the  Consensus  was  no  longer  required. 
In  1707  Count  Metternich,  who  was  at  Neuchatel,  told 
him  that  his  master,  the  King  of  Prussia,  greatly  desired 
the  union  of  the  churches.  Turretin  made  this  subject 
the  theme  of  his  address  as  rector  of  the  university  and 
dedicated  it  to  the  king.  This  led  to  a  correspondence 
between  them  and  to  the  foundation  of  a  Lutheran  church 
in  Geneva  in  1707.  In  1708  he  was  elected  a  member  of 
the  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  London. 
In  1 7 10  he  was  called  as  professor  to  Marburg,  but  de- 
clined. In  1720  he  published  an  important  work  which 
had  a  great  influence  for  religious  toleration.  It  was 
entitled  "The  Cloud  of  Witnesses."  In  it  he  aimed  to 
show  from  the  Bible,  the  church  fathers,  the  early  synods 


GENEVA  175 

and  celebrated  theologians  that  Christianity  rejected  the 
use  of  force  in  religion,  while  other  religions  insisted 
on  a  forced  adherence  to  their  dogmas  which  only  led  to 
hypocrisy.  He  dedicated  the  work  to  the  archbishop  of 
Canterbury.  He  died  May  1,  1737.  A  great  work  of 
his  was  his  "Ecclesiastical  History,"  which  revealed  great 
erudition.  The  year  he  died  his  "Natural  and  Revealed 
Theology"  (translated  into  English,  1797)  was  pub- 
lished. His  theological  position  is  revealed  in  his  "Cogi- 
tations and  Dissertations,"  He  has  been  variously  judged 
as  a  low-Calvinist,  an  Arminian  and  a  Socinian.  He 
seems  to  have  held  to  a  mild  orthodoxy,  and  was  really 
a  supernatural  rationalist.  Perhaps  the  best  description 
of  him  is  that  he  was  a  typical  broad-churchman.  The 
distinctions  of  theology  played  little  part  with  him.  He 
wanted  Lutherans,  Reformed,  Anglicans  and  liberals  to 
unite,  and  was  bitter  against  dogma  because  he  thought 
it  stood  in  the  way  of  church-union.  He  was  greatly 
influenced  by  the  Anglican  bishops,  who  were  at  that 
time  Arminian  and  latitudinarian.  He  was  the  con- 
temporary of  Spener,  but  lacked  the  latter's  spirituality. 
Under  him  Geneva  went  in  a  single  generation  from  ortho- 
doxy to  supernatural  rationalism  because  pietism  was 
lacking.  But,  to  atone  for  his  doctrinal  descent,  he  laid 
emphasis  on  apologetics,  proving  the  necessity  of  a  God. 
The  decrees  of  God  he  set  aside  as  among  the  hidden 
things,  and  said  we  should  be  content  with  what  is 
revealed,  namely,  "He  that  believed  hath  eternal  life, 
etc." 

Turretin  not  only  led  to  a  revision  of  the  doctrine, 
but  also  of  the  liturgy  of  Geneva.  In  this  he  was  largely 
affected  by  his  association  with  the  Anglican  bishops. 
The  old  simple  service  of  Calvin  was  enriched  after  the 
type  of  the  English  Prayer-book.  Free  prayer,  common 
in  the  Genevan  service  since  the  Reformation,  was  now 
set  aside  in  the  liturgy.     He  introduced  the  rite  of  con- 


176  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

firmation,  leaving  out,  however,  the  laying  on  of  hands. 
He  seems  to  have  wanted  to  make  up  for  his  loss  of 
doctrine  by  increase  of  liturgy,  as  is  often  the  case. 
Some  have  held  that  it  was  rationalism  that  lowered  the 
liturgies  and  introduced  free  prayer.  Not  always.  Here 
in  Geneva,  and  also  in  Neuchatel,  the  lowering  of  doc- 
trine led  to  the  opposite,  namely,  the  increase  of  ritual. 
The  great  opponent  of  J.  A.  Turretin  was  Benedict 
Pictet,*  the  nephew  of  Francis  Turretin,  who  represented 
the  latter's  theology  better  than  did  the  latter's  son,  J. 
Alphonse  Turretin.  Pictet  was  descended  from  one  of 
the  most  ancient  families  of  Geneva.  He  was  born  May 
30,  1655.  He  studied  at  Geneva,  and  at  the  age  of 
twenty  had  already  completed  his  theological  studies. 
He  then  studied  abroad  at  Paris,  and  in  Holland,  under 
Spanheim.  He  returned  by  way  of  England  to  Geneva 
(1679),  and>  m  1686,  was  made  assistant  to  Professors 
Turretin  and  Mestrezat.  Although  young,  he  occupied 
this  position  with  credit  to  himself.  In  1702  he  was  made 
professor  of  theology.  The  University  of  Leyden  called 
him  as  successor  to  Spanheim,  but  he  declined.  He  was 
a  member  of  the  Berlin  Academy  of  Sciences  and  the 
Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  London. 
He  did  much  to  aid  the  French  refugees  at  the  time  of 
the  Revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes  and  started  a 
society  for  evangelistic  work  among  Catholics  in 
opposition  to  the  efforts  of  King  Louis  XIV.  This  so- 
ciety soon  received  gifts  of  thousands  of  livres  for  its 
work.  One  of  his  most  remarkable  works  was  his  re- 
vision of  the  Psalms,  which,  together  with  his  fifty-three 
hymns,  revealed  the  quality  of  true  poetry.  But  his 
greatest  works  were  his  Christian  Morals  (1692),  and 
his  Christian  Theology  (1696).  In  the  latter,  he  re- 
veals himself  as  a  genuine  Calvinist,  but  of  an  irenic  lib- 

*  See  Bude,  "Vie  de  Benedict  Pictet,"  1824. 


GENEVA  177 

eral  spirit.  He  combines  clearness  of  expression  with 
profundity  of  thought.  His  Theology  was  translated  into 
English  and  found  a  wide  circulation.  He  was  a  fine 
pulpit  orator,  clear  in  style,  simple  and  natural  in  man- 
ner. He  died  rejoicing  in  faith,  June  10,  1724,  having 
cried  out,  "O,  death,  where  is  thy  sting."  Pictet,  like 
Beza,  was  a  rare  combination  of  a  polite  French  courtier 
and  a  true  Christian  gentleman. 

Having  noted  the  leaders,  let  us  now  watch  the  events 
that  led  to  the  disavowal  of  the  Consensus.  In  April, 
1706,  a  crisis  occurred.  A  student  for  the  ministry, 
named  Vial,  refused  the  usual  subscription,  "So  I  think, 
I  declare  publicly,  so  I  will  speak";  offering  to  agree 
to  its  negative  ending  that  he  "would  not  teach  anything 
contrary  to  the  Consensus"  or  "do  anything  to  injure 
the  peace  of  the  Church."  The  Venerable  Company  de- 
cided to  receive  him  on  this  lowered  subscription,  but 
a  minority  protested  to  the  state  council.  The  council 
ordered  a  new  meeting  of  the  Venerable  Company  to  set- 
tle the  matter.  So  Vial's  reception  into  the  Company 
was  halted.  Meanwhile,  protests  began  to  come  in  from 
the  rest  of  Switzerland.  Then  the  Venerable  Company 
came  to  a  decision  (the  Calvinistic  minority,  12  out 
of  34,  voluntarily  absenting  themselves),  and  repealed 
subscription  to  the  Helvetic  Consensus.  Then  the  mat- 
ter was  taken  up  by  the  little  council  before  whom  Tur- 
retin  favored  the  lowered  subscription  and  Pictet  and 
Calendrini  opposed  it.  The  latter  said  he  feared  if 
the  Helvetic  Consensus  were  set  aside,  that  soon  the 
Helvetic  Confession  and  the  canons  of  Dort  would  also 
be  disavowed,  and  that  Arminianism  would  come  in  and 
Geneva  become  separated  from  Holland  as  well  as  the 
rest  of  Switzerland.  So  the  city  council  supported  the 
subscription  "not  to  teach  anything  against  the  canons 
of  Dort."  But  the  council  of  200  was  not  satisfied,  and 
on  September  6,  1706,  adopted  the  subscription  only  to 
12 


i;8  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

the  Old  and  New  Testament,  and  that  the  ministers 
were  "not  to  teach  anything  contrary  to  the  confession 
and  catechism  of  the  Church." 

But,  when  Pictet  died  (1725)  the  Calvinistic  minority 
had  almost  died  out.  So  the  subscription  of  1706  was 
set  aside,  June  15,  1725,  and  only  subscription  to  the 
Old  and  New  Testament  and  to  Calvin's  catechism  as 
their  summary  was  required.  Thus,  not  only  was  the 
Helvetic  Consensus  set  aside,  but  also  the  Helvetic  Con- 
fession and  the  canons  of  Dort,  while  aside  from  the 
Bible  only  Calvin's  catechism  had  a  sort  of  authority 
as  a  symbol.  But,  alas,  the  movement  to  a  lower  creed 
did  not  stop  here.  As  we  shall  soon  see,  the  trend  was 
not  only  away  from  Calvinism,  but  from  all  orthodoxy; 
and  this  gathered  momentum  as  the  years  rolled  on. 
Turretin's  mistake  was  in  attacking  the  old  Calvinism  so 
severely  as  to  start  an  influence  that  ultimately  led  to 
the  undermining  of  all  orthodoxy. 

Section  4 

osterwald  and  its  disavowal  by  neuchatel 

Neuchatel,  since  the  Reformation,  had  taken  no 
prominent  part  in  the  religious  history  of  Switzerland. 
This  was  partly  due  to  the  fact  that  Neuchatel  was  not 
an  integral  part  of  Switzerland,  and  also  to  the  fact  that 
she  did  not  have  a  university  where  professors  of  theology 
would  be  apt  to  make  themselves  prominent.  From  Farel, 
in  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  century,  to  Osterwald,  at 
the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century,  she  had  no  re- 
markable theologian.  Only  with  John  Frederick  Oster- 
wald did  one  appear,  and  he  has  been  called  the  second 
reformer  of  Neuchatel,  as  Farel  had  been  the  first.* 

*  For  a  fine  life  see  "Jean  Frederick  Osterwald,"  by  R. 
Gretillat. 


NEUCHATEL  179 

He  was  born  November  16,  1663,  at  Neuchatel,  where 
his  father  was  a  prominent  pastor,  and,  as  we  have  seen, 
prevented  individual  subscription  to  the  Helvetic  Con- 
sensus. The  son  inherited  the  liberal  theological  spirit 
from  his  father.  When  thirteen  years  of  age  he  was 
sent  to  Zurich  to  study  the  ancient  languages  under  Pro- 
fessor Ott,  and  also  German,  which  he  mastered  in 
eighteen  months.  At  the  age  of  fifteen  he  went  to 
Saumur  and  studied  there  and  to  Orleans,  where  he 
studied  under  Pajon,  and  to  Paris,  under  Claude. 
Pajon's  liberal  Calvinism  especially  attracted  him.  He 
returned  to  Neuchatel  (1681),  but  after  his  father's 
death  went  to  Geneva  to  study  under  Tronchin.  He  re- 
turned to  Neuchatel,  and  was  ordained  at  the  age  of 
twenty.  He  was  (1686)  first  assistant  pastor  at  Neu- 
chatel, and,  in  1699,  made  full  pastor  there.  His  ser- 
mons gave  him  such  popularity  that  a  new  church  was 
built  for  him.  In  1700  he  was  elected  doyen  or  head 
of  the  classis  of  Neuchatel.  As  head  of  the  church, 
he  soon  revealed  his  progressive  spirit,  and  introduced 
reforms.  Thus,  he  introduced  the  rite  of  confirmation 
so  as  to  be  in  conformity  with  the  customs  of  the  other 
Swiss  churches.  He  also  caused  the  introduction  of 
new  Psalms,  as  the  French  language  had  changed  since 
Marot  and  Beza  had  written  the  Psalms  in  the  Reforma- 
tion.    To  this  change  there  was  opposition. 

He  also  began  revealing  his  divergence  from  strict 
Calvinism.  In  1700,  he  published  anonymously  his  tract 
on  the  "Sources  of  Corruption."  This  tract  caused  a 
great  sensation,  because  it  weakened  from  scholastic 
Calvinism  in  its  doctrine  of  original  sin.  It  contains  in 
embryo  all  his  new  views  as  developed  later.  This  tract 
was  translated  into  many  languages. 

In  1702  he  published  his  famous  catechism,  which 
was  remarkable  for  its  clearness,  logic  and  compre- 
hensiveness.    As   assistant   pastor,   it    was   his   duty   to 


180  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

catechize  the  young,  and,  in  a  "Poor  School"  established 
in  Neuchatel,  in  imitation  of  those  in  London,  he  found 
the  Heidelberg  Catechism  too  abstruse,  and  so  he  pre- 
pared a  catechism  of  his  own.  It  is  divided  into  three 
divisions,  Bible  history,  doctrine  and  morals.  Its  pe- 
culiarity is  its  emphasis  on  the  last,  which  is  as  large 
as  the  other  two  divisions  together.  Another  curious 
peculiarity  was  that  it  placed  the  Lord's  Supper,  not 
among  the  doctrines,  but  among  the  duties  in  the  last 
part.  Instead  of  Scripture  being  the  only  rule  of  faith, 
reason  and  conscience  were  coordinated  with  it.  The 
success  of  this  catechism  was  phenomenal.  It  was 
adopted  by  the  classis  of  Neuchatel  and  was  translated 
into  German  and  Flemish  and  the  historical  part  into 
Arabic  for  use  among  the  Mohammedans.  The  Society 
for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  London,  of  which 
Osterwald  was  a  member,  had  it  translated  into  English 
and  it  was  introduced  into  the  University  of  Oxford.* 
But  it  was  severely  attacked.  Naude,  the  supralapsarian 
minister  of  Berlin,  attacked  it  for  its  Socinianism,  apply- 
ing to  its  author,  John  8 :  44,  "Ye  are  of  your  father,  the 
devil."  The  canton  of  Bern  also  attacked  the  catechism 
and  Professor  Rudolph  drew  up  the  censure  of  it,  charg- 
ing it  with  teachings  contrary  to  the  Heidelberg  Cate- 
chism,— that  Adam's  sin  was  reduced  to  a  tendency  and 
not  in  itself  guilty.  This  censure  of  Bern  (for  Oster- 
wald disliked  to  engage  in  polemics),  was  replied  to  by 
his  colleague  Tribolet,  who  denied  that  the  aim  of  the 
catechism  was  to  undermine  the  Heidelberg,  as  also 
Naude's  charge  that  it  was  Socinian.  While  the  Cal- 
vinists  severely  attacked  it,  on  the  other  hand  Professor 
Zimmerman,  later  the  rationalistic  professor  of  theology 
at  Zurich,  declared  that  it  was  the  reading  of  this  cate- 
chism by  which  he  came  to  clearer  and  freer  views  of 

*  It  was  entitled  "The  Grounds  and  Principles  of  the  Chris- 
tian Religion,"  1704. 


NEUCHATEL  181 

truth.  In  1703,  Osterwald  visited  Werenfels  at  Basle, 
and  the  next  year,  J.  A.  Turretin  at  Geneva.  In  1708, 
Bishop  Burnet,  of  Salisbury,  England,  visited  him  and 
Osterwald,  and  Werenfels  went  to  Geneva,  where  Tur- 
retin received  them  with  great  honor. 

There  being  no  university  at  Neuchatel,  he  began 
lecturing  on  theology  in  1701  to  a  number  of  poor  stu- 
dents. This  proved  so  helpful,  that  in  171 1  the  classis 
gave  him  the  care  of  the  students  for  the  ministry.  Out 
of  this  came  his  main  theological  work,  "Compendium  of 
Theology"  (1739),  the  result  of  thirty  years  of  lectures. 
The  plan  of  the  work  is  the  same  as  in  the  catechism. 
God's  principal  attribute  is  love.  Predestination  is  not 
particularly  treated  of  except  that  it  ought  to  be  spoken 
of  prudently.  On  the  Lord's  Supper  he  is  a  Zwinglian. 
He  states  the  different  views  of  the  trinity  and  atone- 
ment but  does  not  decide  about  them.  His  fundamental 
principle  was  clearness, — what  is  not  clear  is  not  neces- 
sary. Therefore,  he  set  aside  the  Calvinistic  doctrine  of 
predestination,  the  condition  of  the  heathen  and  the 
inability  of  man  to  good  works.  His  emphasis  in  the- 
ology was  on  morals  and  conduct.  He  held  that  the 
Reformation  was  not  a  completed  work,  but  that  the 
reformation  of  morals  was  to  succeed  that  of  doctrine, 
and  was  yet  to  come. 

Another  of  his  reforms  was  a  new  liturgy.  He  was 
elected  among  the  first  honorary  members  of  the  So- 
ciety for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  London  and 
came  considerably  under  the  influence  of  the  Anglicans. 
He  favored  Episcopacy,  but  could  do  nothing  for  it,  as 
the  ministers  and  people  of  his  canton  were  against  it.* 
But  by  1716,  when  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  pro- 

*  There  is  an  unsigned  letter  from  Switzerland  at  Lambeth 
Palace,  London,  proposing  a  plan  for  making  Switzerland  Epis- 
copal, and  in  which  the  antistes  of  Zurich  was  to  be  elevated  to 
the  position  of  bishop. 


182  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

posed  that  the  students  of  Neuchatel  should  receive 
ordination  in  England  at  the  hands  of  the  bishops,  he 
seems  to  have  gotten  over  his  Episcopalianism.  He  was 
more  successful  in  regard  to  the  liturgy.  The  old  simple 
liturgy  of  Farel  and  Calvin  had  been  in  use  in  Neuchatel 
since  the  Reformation.  He  caused  it  to  be  supplanted 
by  a  new  liturgy  tending  toward  the  Anglican.  It  was 
much  more  elaborate  in  its  forms  and  added  new 
forms  of  worship.  As  early  as  1704  he  wrote  to  the 
Society  of  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  London  that 
the  divine  service  had  been  established  in  Neuchatel 
after  the  pattern  of  the  Anglican  liturgy.  This  new  lit- 
urgy, though  composed  in  1706,  when  he  was  moving 
toward  Church  union  on  the  basis  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land, yet  was  not  published  until  1713.  It  was  dedi- 
cated to  the  King  of  Prussia,  who  published  it.  But 
its  high-Church  forms  were  bitterly  opposed  by  many 
of  the  ministers  as  also  its  lack  of  Calvinistic  orthodoxy. 
Thus  the  confession  of  sin  in  the  liturgy  was  violently 
attacked,  because  it  did  not  admit  the  absolute  corrup- 
tion of  sin.  The  Huguenot  Church,  of  Charleston, 
South  Carolina,  adopted  this  liturgy  and  in  so  doing 
departed  from  the  old  simple  service  of  the  early  French 
Reformed  Churches.  Osterwald  finally,  by  the  aid  of 
his  friend  Tribolet,  succeeded  in  getting  it  used  by  his 
church,  but  many  then  looked  upon  it  as  not  thoroughly 
Reformed. 

He  also  published  a  tract  on  "Impurity,"  a  popular 
treatise  against  vice,  which  had  considerable  circulation 
and  translation  and  was  used  for  a  long  time  even  among 
the  convents  in  France.  But  his  best  gift  to  the  French 
churches  was  his  Bible  translation.  The  ignorance  and  in- 
difference he  had  found  in  his  pastoral  visits  led  him  to 
prepare  a  popular  explanation  of  the  Bible,  which  grew 
into  a  Bible  translation  (1709-15).  In  it  he  aimed  to 
correct  the  obscurities  of  the  Martin  version  of  Scrip- 


NEUCHATEL  183 

lure  which  had  hitherto  been  the  accepted  French  ver- 
sion. By  his  brief  practical  notes  he  aimed  to  make  the 
Bible  so  simple  that  any  one  could  understand  it.  His 
version  was  for  a  century  the  received  version  of  French- 
speaking  Protestants.* 

After  serving  the  Church  at  Neuchatel  as  pastor  and 
professor  for  sixty-three  years,  he  was  stricken  with 
apoplexy  August  24,  1746,  while  about  to  preach  in 
John  20:  1-8,  and  died  April  14,  1747.  He  had  a  great 
funeral  of  more  than  5,000  persons. f 

Osterwald,  with  Werenfels  of  Basle  and  J.  A.  Tur- 
retin  of  Geneva,  were  the  leaders  in  setting  aside  the 
Helvetic  Consensus  in  Switzerland,  when  the  foreign 
princes  made  their  appeal  in  1722.  Finally,  the  Evan- 
gelical diet,  June  17,  1724,  abrogated  it,  although  its 
use  continued  in  Bern  and  Zurich  somewhat  later,  also 
in  St.  Gall  and  Schaffhausen.J 

*  English  translations  appeared  in  London,  1716-18  and  1776. 

f  Two  beautiful  stories  are  told  of  him.  During  the  war  of 
1702,  Fenelon  happened  to  have  in  his  employ  a  young  Neucha- 
telois  in  his  garden.  Having  learned  where  he  came  from, 
Fenelon  asked  him  if  he  knew  Osterwald.  "Yes,"  was  his  reply. 
"But  is  it  true  that  he  preaches  so  well  and  lives  as  he  preaches?" 
"Ah,  yes,"  was  the  reply,  "he  is  like  an  angel,  but  when  he  is 
angry  the  whole  world  trembles."  Another  story  is  that  at  his 
funeral  a  curious  event  took  place.  A  Capuchin  monk  from  the 
borders  of  France,  who  loved  him  and  regularly  visited  him 
once  a  year,  happened  to  come  to  town  just  as  the  funeral  pro- 
cession was  proceeding  to  the  church.  Not  desiring  to  trouble 
the  procession  or  the  service  by  wearing  his  habit,  he  stayed 
away  till  evening.  When  all  had  retired,  he  went  into  the  church 
and  kneeling  at  the  tomb  where  the  body  was  buried,  he  watered 
it  with  his  tears,  thanking  God  for  the  good  he  had  received 
from  the  dead. 

t  Hadorn's  "Kirchengeschichte  der  reformirten  Schweiz," 
page  206 ;  Finsler's  "Zurich  in  den  neunzehnten  Jahrhundert," 
page  96. 


PART  III 

THE  RETENTION  OF  THE  HELVETIC  CONSENSUS 

Although  the  Evangelical  diet  set  aside  the  Con- 
sensus in  1724,  yet  as  each  canton  regulated  its  own  sub- 
scription, it  remained  in  force  in  Bern  and  Zurich. 

CHAPTER  I 
Its  Retention  in  Zurich 

Section  i 
antistes  antonius  klingeer  (1688-i713) 

Before  Klingler  came  there  were  two  antistes  not 
yet  spoken  of,  John  Jacob  Muller  (antistes  1677-80,  only 
three  years).  Unlike  his  predecessor,  antistes  Waser, 
who  was  a  high  Calvinist,  he  was  a  Cocceian.  The  next 
antistes  was  John  Henry  Erni  (1680-88).  With  the 
election  of  Klingler  as  antistes  ( 1688)  Zurich  again  had 
an  antistes  of  ability  and  force  of  character.  He  is  the 
only  one  between  the  last  great  antistes,  Breitinger 
(1645),  and  the  next  great  antistes,  Hess  (1795),  who 
at  all  approaches  greatness. 

He  was  born  August  2,  1649.  After  studying  in 
Zurich  he  studied  abroad  and  instead  of  returning  to 
Zurich  as  was  customary,  he  remained  in  Germany, 
where  he  became  professor  of  theology  in  the  gymnasium 
of  Hanau.  While  there  he  received  the  degree  of  doctor 
of  divinity  from  Franeker  and  a  call  to  Groningen  Uni- 
versity, which  he  declined.  He  returned  to  Zurich 
(1681)    as   pastor   and   soon   his   ability   and   eloquence 

185 


186  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

placed  him  in  the  front  rank  of  preachers  in  his  native 
city.  He  had  in  Germany  acquired  a  finished  style  which 
was  very  attractive  to  the  Zurich  people  and  was  quite 
in  contrast  with  the  stiff,  pedantic  type  of  preaching,  with 
its  hair-splittings  of  doctrine,  so  common  in  Zurich.  As 
a  result  of  his  popularity  he  was  elected  antistes  in  1688. 
This  was  remarkable,  for  it  was  not  customary  for  Zur- 
ich to  elect  so  young  a  man  to  that  position  or  to  elect 
one  who  had  been  in  the  service  of  the  Swiss  Church 
for  so  short  a  time, — only  seven  years.  He  soon  re- 
vealed his  ability  as  an  executive  as  well  as  a  preacher 
and  the  church  was  stirred  by  stricter  regulations. 

On  one  thing  he  was  different  from  any  other  antistes. 
Though  Calvinistic  in  his  orthodoxy,  yet  he  was  hier- 
archical. He  was  a  high  churchman,  not  in  ritual  or 
doctrine,  but  in  church  government.  He  believed  in 
destroying  the  enemies  of  the  church  by  force  and  not 
attempting  to  do  so  by  moral  suasion.  He  reminds  one 
in  this  of  Pope  Hildebrand,  only  he  was  a  Protestant. 
He,  therefore,  opposed  any  departure  from  Calvinism, 
and  tried  to  put  down  the  sects  with  the  severest  disci- 
pline. The  most  prominent  person  against  whom  this 
spirit  was  directed  during  his  antistesship  was  Prof. 
John  Henry  Schweizer  (Suicer).  He  was  the  brilliant 
son  of  Prof.  J.  C.  Schweizer,  the  famous  classical 
scholar.  He  was  born  1646.  When  his  father  laid  down 
his  professorship,  he  did  so  in  favor  of  his  not  less 
learned  son.  This  nepotism  provoked  opposition  and 
at  his  election  Klingler,  in  his  New  Year's  sermon,  de- 
clared it  to  be  nothing  less  than  godlessness.  For  he 
opposed  Schweizer  because  he  held  to  the  doctrine  of 
the  universal  atonement,  like  Saumur.  Owing  to  the 
opposition  to  his  more  liberal  views,  Schweizer  left 
Zurich  and  went  to  Heidelberg,  where  he  became  pro- 
fessor (1705)  but  died  soon  after. 

Another  heresy  case  appeared.     Rev.   Henry  Hoch- 


ZURICH  187 

holzer  was  called  by  the  consistory  before  it  March  23, 
1690,  for  preaching  a  sermon  on  John  5 :  19,  20.  He  was 
charged  with  liberal  doctrine  and  deposed  May  31,  1691. 
Also  Bulad,  professor  of  Hebrew,  for  saying  in  his  in- 
augural address  (1692)  that  the  Hebrew  vowel-points 
were  late  and  that  the  Septuagint  was  more  important 
in  its  text  than  our  Hebrew  text,  was  called  before  the 
council.  He  was  permitted  to  teach,  provided  he  gave 
up  these  views.  Later  he  became  insane.  Under  Kling- 
ler,  heresy  was  to  be  extirpated  if  possible.  Yet, 
though  he  was  so  narrow,  the  Gregorian  calendar  was 
introduced  into  Protestant  Switzerland  during  his  an- 
tistesship  after  a  century's  delay  owing  to  prejudice  of 
Protestants  against  the  papacy. 

Klingler  seemed  to  many  of  the  Swiss  pompous  be- 
cause he  allowed  the  title  "His  Excellency"  to  be  used  of 
himself,  which  was  quite  contrary  to  Swiss  simplicity. 
He  also  exerted  considerable  political  influence,  opposing 
the  foreign  service  of  the  Swiss.  A  book  published  by 
him,  "Bella  Jehovah"  or  "The  War  of  God,"  consisting 
of  sermons  on  the  book  of  Joshua,  had  a  larger  circula- 
tion than  any  book  since  Bullinger's.     He  died  1713. 

Section  2 

antistes  peter  zeller  (1713-18)  and  antistes  louis 
nuschler  (1718-37) 

Peter  Zeller  was  the  opposite  of  Klingler.  His 
simplicity  of  life  and  of  style  was  quite  in  contrast  with 
Klingler's  ornate  style  and  severe  methods.  But  though 
simple  in  style,  he  had  great  warmth  of  heart.  During 
his  term  pietism  began  to  appear  in  Zurich  in  John  Jacob 
Ulrich,  who  had  studied  in  Holland  and  there  became  a 
practical  Cocceian,  like  Prof.  F.  A.  Lampe,  the  pietistic 
professor  of  theology  at  Utrecht.  Ulrich  introduced 
prayer-meetings  and  also  the  subject  of  missions,  especi- 


188  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

ally  concerning  the  work  of  Ziegenbalg  in  India.  This 
could  not  have  occurred  under  Klingler  and  reveals 
Zeller's  more  liberal  spirit.  Still  an  interesting  fact  about 
the  Helvetic  Consensus  comes  to  light.  When  in  1717 
dekan  Bergier,  of  the  University  of  Lausanne,  of  whom 
we  will  speak  in  the  next  chapter,  declared  that  the 
Helvetic  Consensus  was  not  subscribed  to  in  Zurich, 
antistes  Zeller  denied  it,  saying  that  it  was  still  in  force.* 

After  antistes  Zeller  came  antistes  Nuscheler,  the 
last  antistes  of  the  period  of  Calvinistic  orthodoxy.  His 
travels  in  Germany  and  England  had  liberalized  his  mind, 
but  he  was  still  a  strict  Calvinist.  The  second  centen- 
nial of  the  Reformation  occurred  soon  after  his  election 
on  January  1,  1719.  The  celebration,  consisting  of  Latin 
addresses,  poems,  discussions,  etc.,  lasted  a  week.  On 
New  Year's  Day,  Nuscheler  preached.  The  sermons  of 
that  day  were  so  many  and  so  long  that  it  is  said  the 
city  clerk  had  to  turn  the  clock  back,  and  for  the  last 
preacher  the  lights  had  to  be  lit.  But  a  significant  pe- 
culiarity of  this  centenary  was  the  absence  of  any  pole- 
mics against  Luther,  whose  name  was  honored  and  whose 
hymns  were  sung. 

When  in  1722  the  foreign  princes  wrote  to  the  Swiss, 
asking  them  to  give  up  the  Helvetic  Consensus,  Zurich 
replied  politely,  but  firmly  refused  to  give  it  up.  Under 
Klingler  and  Nuscheler,  says  Finsler,  the  Helvetic  Con- 
sensus reached  its  high  water  mark  in  Zurich.  Thus 
Nuscheler  in  a  circular,  says:  "The  innocent  Helvetic 
Consensus  ought,  according  to  the  wish  of  the  princes, 
to  be  given  up.  But  we  maintain  our  right  not  to  open 
the  breach  so  wide  lest  confusion  may  ensue."  Zurich 
joined  with  Bern  in  giving  a  negative  answer  to  the 
princes,  and  on  July  22,  1722,  retained  the  Helvetic  Con- 
sensus.f     The  Helvetic  Consensus  was  not  given  up  by 

*Trechsel's  "Berner  Taschenbuch,"  1882,  page  80,  note. 
t  Schweitzer's  "Central-Dogmen,"  Vol.  II,  page  697. 


ZURICH  189 

Zurich  until  the  election  of  a  rationalistic  antistes  in 
l72>7*  Indeed  it  seems  to  have  continued  in  authority 
down  to  1 741,  when  the  Zurich  Synod  again  declared  its 
adherence  to  the  old  confessions. 

*  Schweitzer's  "Zustand  der  Zurichen  Kirche,"  page  40. 


CHAPTER  II 

Its  Retention  by  Bern* 

Section  i 

prof.  john  rudolph  rudolph 

Before  taking  up  the  history  of  the  Helvetic  Con- 
sensus in  Bern,  it  will  be  necessary  to  notice  the  man 
who  was  the  leader  of  Bern  at  that  time.  Since  the  days 
of  Musculus  and  Aretius,  in  the  days  of  the  Reforma- 
tion, he  was  the  most  prominent  theologian  of  Bern. 
He  was  born  October  4,  1646,  and  studied  at  Bern.  Just 
as  he  had  finished  his  course  there  was  an  election  for 
a  professor  of  philosophy  at  Lausanne.  Polier  was 
elected,  but  young  Rudolph  did  so  well  in  the  examina- 
tion that  the  Council  of  Bern  made  him  a  present  of  16 
crowns  and  told  him  to  study  at  foreign  universities  at 
the  city's  expense.  He  studied  at  Geneva,  not  under  F. 
Turretin,  but  under  Tronchin  and  Mestrezat,  and  at 
Saumur  and  visited  Paris,  Germany  and  England.  At 
the  end  of  three  years  fie  returned  to  Bern  and  in  1676 
was  made  professor  of  Hebrew  and  in  1688  of  cate- 
chetics.  In  the  latter  chair  he  published  his  excellent 
"Analysis  and  Interpretation  of  the  Heidelberg  Cate- 
chism," 1697.  He  was  elected  professor  of  exegetical 
theology  (1698)  and  of  dogmatics  (1700).  Fourteen 
years  later  he  published  his  "Christian  Theology,"  which 
was  Cocceian  in  doctrine.  He  was  also  elected  (1716) 
dekan  of  Bern,  that  is,  head  of  the  Bern  Church.  He 
was  the  only  one  to  hold  both  the  positions  of  dekan  and 

*  See  "Berner  Taschenbuch,"  1869,  page  95. 
190 


BERN 


191 


professor  of  theology.  Rudolph  lived  at  a  critical  time, 
when  the  old  Calvinistic  theology  was  attacked  from  two 
sides,  from  low  Calvinism  and  from  pietism ;  both  tend- 
encies lowering  the  merely  doctrinal  for  the  more  prac- 
tical. He  was  not  only  a  strong  intellectual  leader,  but 
strong  spiritually.  In  spirit  he  was  a  pietist  and  yet  cir- 
cumstances made  him  the  leader  against  pietism. 
Though  trained  under  liberal  Calvinism  he  was  yet  a 
strict  Calvinist, — although  a  Cartesian  in  his  philosophy 
as  to  method,  yet  a  strict  Cocceian  as  to  the  contents  of 
his  theology. 

Section  2 

the  difficulties  of  creed  subscription  at  lausanne 

We  have  seen  that  the  district  of  Vaud,  which  is 
the  southern  part  of  Bern,  was  French.  This  made  a 
difference  of  races,  as  Bern,  or  the  northern  district,  was 
German.  Vaud  had  sympathized  with  Calvin's  view  of 
the  Church  as  autonomous  in  its  government,  but  Bern 
on  the  other  hand  sympathized  with  Zwingli  in  making 
the  Church  and  State  closely  united.  These  differences 
between  Bern  and  Vaud  were  accentuated  by  the  intro- 
duction of  the  Helvetic  Consensus.  For  many  of  the 
ministers  who  came  into  Vaud  from  France  were  ad- 
herents of  Saumur;  and  one  had  refused  to  sign  the 
Consensus,  Saurin,  when  Bern,  in  1675,  had  ordered 
subscription  to  it.  As  a  result,  the  Helvetic  Consensus 
lost  authority  in  Vaud.  As  early  as  1682,  seven  years 
after  its  publication,  some  of  the  candidates  for  the 
ministry  at  Lausanne  signed  it  "quatenus" — that  is,  as 
far  as  it  agreed  with  the  Bible.*     From  1675-1700,  out 

*  This  word  would  not  seem  to  affect  the  subscription,  as  all 
creeds  are  subscribed  to  because  they  agree  with  the  Bible.  But 
this  phrase  "quatenus"  also  led  to  the  inference  that  there  was  a 
difference  between  the  creed  and  the  Bible,  and  that  there  were 


192  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

of  160  candidates  for  the  ministry  at  Lausanne,  51  had 
never  subscribed  to  the  Helvetic  Consensus,  and  that 
with  the  permission  of  the  authorities. 

The  news  of  this  lowered  subscription  at  Lausanne 
finally  led  Bern  to  take  drastic  action,  June  14,  1699. 
There  was  drawn  up  the  "Association  Oath."  This  oath 
had  a  double  purpose.  It  was  directed  against  pietism 
and  against  Saumur.*  Bern  adopted  this  oath  and  or- 
dered it  to  be  subscribed  to.  From  1699  to  1706  all 
signed  this  oath.  In  1706  the  rector  of  the  university 
of  Lausanne,  Crousaz,  the  celebrated  mathematician  and 
philosopher,  permitted  the  subscription  "quatenus."  In 
1709  the  subscription  stood  thus:  "I  subscribe  to  the 
explanation  given  by  the  rector  of  the  university."  By 
1712  the  subscription  "quatenus"  had  added  to  it  the 
clause  "not  to  teach  anything  contrary  to  the  creed." 
In  171 5  sixteen  young  men  signed  "quatenus."  This 
alarmed  the  conservative  Calvinists,  and  in  1716  matters 
came  to  a  crisis.  For  it  seems  that  one  of  the  French 
classes,  the  classis  of  Morges,  had  a  Calvinistic  majority, 
and  it  brought  complaints  to  the  authorities  of  Bern 
against  Lausanne,  that  they  were  using  the  "quatenus." 
So  Bern,  on  January  23,  1716,  ordered  an  investigation. 

It  happened  that  just  at  that  time  there  were  at  Lau- 
sanne a  number  of  prominent  professors  who  were  lib- 
erals, as  Abraham  Ruchat,  the  French  historian  of  the 
Reformation  in  Switzerland;  Barbeyrac,  Bergier  and 
Polier.  When  the  University  of  Lausanne  received 
notice  of  the  proposed  investigation  by  Bern,  it  ordered 
Barbeyrac  to  reply,  which  he  did  January  25,  17 16.     He 

some  things  in  the  creed  not  in  the  Bible.  So  it  meant  sub- 
scription only  to  those  parts  of  the  creed  that  were  Biblical. 
If  those,  who  subscribed  this  way,  had  believed  that  the  entire 
creed  was  in  accord  with  the  Bible,  they  would  not  have  in- 
serted "quatenus." 

*  Of  its  reference  to  pietism  we  will  speak  later. 


BERN  193 

denied  the  charges,  denouncing  the  whole  affair  as  an 
intrigue  against  the  institution.  He  declared  he  knew 
nothing  about  Arminianism  among  the  students,  but,  on 
the  contrary,  the  university  had  tried  to  avoid  it  by 
having  one  of  the  professors  deliver  lectures  on  the 
Helvetic  Consensus.*  Then  Barbeyrac  went  on  to  defend 
the  use  of  the  "quatenus"  in  subscription,  and  tried  to  show 
that  "quatenus"  was  justified  by  the  principle  of  Protest- 
antism, which  made  the  Bible  the  rule  of  faith,  and  by 
the  Helvetic  Confession,  which  placed  the  Bible  above 
the  creed.  He  shrewdly  closed  by  recalling  to  them  the 
words  that  ended  the  acts  of  the  synod  of  Bern,  "If 
some  one  will  show  us  a  way  which  better  agrees  with 
the  Word  of  God  and  leads  us  nearer  to  Christ,  we  are 
ready  to  accept  it."  Barbeyrac's  reply  only  widened 
the  breach  and  was  severely  criticised  at  Bern.  So  he 
resigned,  and  in  1717  accepted  a  call  to  Groningen, 
Holland. 

Bern  was  by  this  time  thoroughly  aroused.  The 
Bernese  ministers  appealed  to  the  council  that  the  Con- 
sensus be  adhered  to,  lest  Arminianism,  libertinism  and 
indifference  would  enter  the  church.  So  Bern  ordered 
Lausanne  not  to  ordain  any  students  who  did  not  sub- 
scribe to  the  Helvetic  Consensus.  Dekan  Bergier,  who 
now  took  Barbeyrac's  place  as  leader,  prepared  a  memo- 
rial, signed  by  the  professors  of  the  university,  and  sent 
it  to  Bern,  December  13,  17 17.  In  it  he  earnestly  asked 
that  subscription  to  the  Consensus  be  omitted  or  lowered. 
He  called  attention  to  the  fact  that  the  Helvetic  Con- 
sensus was  against  the  old  Second  Helvetic  Confession, 
the  former  requiring  limited  atonement,  while  the  latter 
taught  universal  atonement.  He  also  declared  that  the 
Consensus  produced  friction  instead  of  unity  in  the 
church.     Other  pamphlets  also  appeared  at   Lausanne, 

*  Professor  Roy,  who,  it  seems,  gave  a  very  mild  interpreta- 
tion of  the  Consensus. 
13 


194  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

some  of  them  anonymous.  Bergier's  attack  on  the  Con- 
sensus also  called  forth  severe  replies.  Barbeyrac, 
though  now  in  Holland,  added  to  the  confusion  by  writ- 
ing to  the  old  magistrate  at  Lausanne,  warning  him  that 
the  orthodox  Calvinists  were  enemies  of  peace.  His 
letter  only  injured  the  case,  for  Bern  looked  upon  him 
now  as  an  outsider  and  his  act  as  an  intermeddling. 
Meanwhile  the  ministerial  convent  at  Bern  made  a 
declaration  against  "quatenus,"  saying  that  with  "quate- 
nus"  one  could  subscribe  to  all  the  papal  bulls,  yes,  even 
to  the  Koran  itself — that  one  could  hold  these  "quatenus," 
that  is,  in  so  far  as  they  agreed  with  the  Bible.  It  urged 
the  council  to  take  severe  measures  against  the  Armin- 
ians,  rationalists,  deists,  etc.  The  Bern  council  there- 
fore ordered,  June  3,  17 18,  that  the  subscription  at  Lau- 
sanne should  be  without  the  "quatenus."  Still  the 
magistrates  at  Lausanne  tried  to  tone  down  the  sub- 
scription. On  August  19,  1718,  seventeen  candidates 
for  the  ministry  subscribed  to  the  Helvetic  Consensus, 
with  the  explanation  that  it  was  not  a  creed,  only  a  state- 
ment of  doctrine,  and  they  promised  not  to  teach  any- 
thing contrary  to  it  or  to  attack  it. 

However,  the  next  year  (May,  17 19),  a  school  com- 
mittee from  Bern  arrived  at  Lausanne.  They  found  that 
the  Association  Oath  was  not  adhered  to,  and  that  in 
many  places  other  catechisms  than  the  Heidelberg  were 
used.  They  so  reported  to  Bern,  but  their  report,  for 
various  reasons,  as  deaths,  etc.,  did  not  come  before 
the  Bern  council  till  April  15,  1722.  Then  action  was 
taken  ordering  subscription  to  the  Helvetic  Consensus 
by  a  vote  of  98-28.  This  revealed  a  respectable  minority 
opposed  to  forcing  the  Consensus  on  Vaud.  And  when 
an  additional  motion  was  put  that  an  explanation  be 
allowed  to  those  who  in  subscribing  desired  to  make  it, 
the  motion  was  lost  by  only  a  narrow  majority.  The 
conservatives  carried  their  point,  but  at  great  loss   of 


BERN  195 

prestige  because  of  so  large  a  minority  vote. 

The  news  of  this  large  minority  vote  caused  a  great 
rejoicing  in  Lausanne  and  strengthened  the  courage  of 
the  opponents  of  the  Consensus.     Bern  sent  deputies  to 
Lausanne  in  1722  to  require  subscription.    The  deputies, 
finding  the  state  of  feeling  there  so  strong,  tried  to  soften 
it  into  that  "they  would   not   teach   anything  contrary 
to  the  Consensus."     To  this  Crousaz  replied,  May   15, 
that  all  were  ready  to  sign.    Only  one  refused,  Professor 
Polier.     But  what  the  professors  would  not  do  the  stu- 
dents did.     Fifteen  of  them  refused  to  subscribe,  May 
19,  1722.    Eight  finally  signed  after  being  severely  threat- 
ened.   But  seven,  at  whose  head  was  the  son  of  Professor 
Crousaz,  remained  firm  in  their  refusal.     By  May  23 
they  were  given  their  last  opportunity  to  sign,  and  two 
did  so,  but  the  other  five  refused.     Young  Crousaz  de- 
clared that  he  was  ready  to  shed  his  last  drop  of  blood 
rather  than  subscribe.     So  these  five  young  men  were 
not   permitted   to   be   ordained   and    their   names   were 
stricken  from  the  roll  of  the  university.    But  Polier  was 
allowed  to  remain  by  making  a  statement  to  the  smaller 
council,  and  by  February,  1723,  Bern  granted  a  milder 
interpretation  of  the  Association  Oath,  and  so  the  young 
candidates  who  had  refused  to  subscribe  did  so.     The 
intercession  of  foreign  princes  had  been  having  its  effect 
in  Bern  in  making  her  more  liberal  about  the  subscription. 
Finally  a  political  event  put  an  end  to  these  doctrinal 
controversies.    On  March  31,  1723,  Major  Duval  led  an 
uprising  of  the  French  of  Vaud  against  Bern ;  but  he  was 
defeated  and  Bern  put  him  to  death  on  the  scaffold,  April 
24,  1723,  for  treason.     He  has,  however,  become  the  pa- 
tron saint  of  the  Vaud  people,  and  his  statue  occupies  a 
prominent  place  at  Lausanne.    But  this  revolution,  though 
unsuccessful,  opened  the  eyes  of  Bern  to  the  great  dissat- 
isfaction in  Vaud  and  led  her  to  give  Vaud  greater  liberty 
of  conscience.    By  April  13,  1723,  Bern  ordered  complete 


196  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

silence  as  to  the  controversy  about  the  Helvetic  Con- 
sensus, and  so  the  subscription  "not  to  teach  to  the  con- 
trary" became  common. 

This  history  of  Geneva  and  Vaud  gives  a  fine  contri- 
bution to  the  science  of  creed-subscription,  now  one  of 
the  most  difficult  questions  in  symbolics  that  is  before 
the  church.  The  original  idea  of  creed  subscription  was, 
of  course,  verbal  subscription,  which  meant  that  one 
subscribed  to  every  word  of  the  creed ;  but,  as  time 
went  on,  this  was  found  to  be  too  narrow,  for  one  age 
did  not  look  at  doctrine  in  the  same  way  as  another  did. 
So  other  kinds  of  subscriptions  appeared.  The  history  of 
Switzerland,  which  we  have  just  been  considering,  reveals 
several  important  modifications  of  verbal  subscription: 

i.  "Quatenus,"  that  is,  subscribing  to  a  creed  in  so 
far  as  that  creed  agrees  with  the  Word  of  God,  but  not 
necessarily  agreeing  with  it  in  other  particulars. 

2.  "Dicebo  non  contrarium,"  that  is,  not  to  teach 
anything  contrary  to  the  creed.  This  meant  that  one 
might  hold  other  views  privately,  but  not  express  them 
publicly. 

3.  "Quantum  intelligere,"  that  is,  to  hold  all  in  the 
creed  except  such  as  it  is  impossible  to  understand. 

As  a  result  of  these  controversies,  creed-subscription 
in  the  nineteenth  century  resolved  itself  away  from  mere 
verbal  subscription  into  subscription  for  system  of  doc- 
trine. This  means  that  one  subscribes  to  the  system  of 
doctrine  in  the  creed.  It  is  based  on  the  idea  that,  if 
one  hold  to  the  system  of  doctrine  in  the  creed,  he  will 
logically  hold  to  the  rest  that  is  there.  However,  at  the 
reunion  of  the  two  branches  of  the  Presbyterian  Church 
in  the  United  States  (Old  School  and  New  School),  in 
1869,  a  still  further  form  of  creed  subscription  came 
to  view,  namely,  subscription  for  substance  of  doctrine. 
This  means  that  the  subscriber  holds  to  the  fundamental 
doctrines  of  the  creed,  but  not  necessarily  in  the  same 


BERN  197 

relation  or  same  arrangement  as  in  the  creed.  Thus  at 
that  union  many  of  the  New  School  men  did  not  hold 
the  Federal  system  of  Calvinism,  which  is  found  in  the 
Westminster  creeds,  but  held  to  the  Edwardean  or  New 
England  system,  which  was  a  restatement  of  Calvinism 
along  more  liberal  lines.  While  the  Westminster  creeds 
were  infralapsarian,  it  was  sublapsarian.  Indeed,  this 
form  of  subscription  is  as  old  as  the  synod  of  Dort, 
where  the  Canons  of  Dort,  though  infralapsarian,  were 
allowed  a  sublapsarian  interpretation,  or  Martinius  and 
the  British  delegates  would  not  have  signed  them.  Thus 
the  church  is  slowly  working  out  the  great  problem  of 
creed-subscription,  and  this  history  of  Switzerland  i3 
an  interesting  contribution  thereto. 


BOOK  III 

THE  PERIOD  OF  RATIONALISM 


CHAPTER  I 
Zurich 

Section  i 

antistes  john  conrad  wirz  (1737-69) 

The  blight  of  rationalism  entered  Switzerland  in  the 
eighteenth  century,  and  it  is  a  sad  fact  that  its  first  great 
victory  should  be  no  less  a  position  than  that  of  the  an- 
tistes  of  Zurich, — that  the  chair  once  occupied  by  Zwingli, 
the  reformer,  should  now  be  filled  by  a  rationalistic 
antistes.  For  with  antistes  Nuscheler  the  unbroken  line 
of  Evangelical  antistes,  which  had  lasted  for  more  than 
two  centuries  (1519-1737),  ended. 

John  Conrad  Wirz  was  born  January  6,  1688.  A 
precocious  youth,  he  rapidly  completed  his  studies  at 
Zurich,  and  went  to  Germany  and  Holland  for  study, 
returning  to  Zurich  in  1712.  He  became  assistant  at 
St.  Peter's  Church,  Zurich,  and  then  first  assistant  at 
the  cathedral.  In  1737  he  was  elected  antistes.  He  was 
a  scholarly  man,  especially  in  the  classics.  Yet  he  was 
popular  and  fervent  in  his  preaching,  only  his  sermons 
lacked  the  Evangelical  fundamentals.  In  his  synodical 
addresses  he  shrewdly  undermined  the  authority  of  the 
old  confessions,  by  elevating  the  Bible,  at  their  expense, 
instead  of  showing  their  agreement  with  the  Bible.  He 
argued  from  the  fact  that  at  first  the  early  Christians 
had  no  confessions,  only  the  Bible.  In  his  seventh  synod- 
ical address  he  went  farther,  and  took  up  the  question 
whether  symbolical  books  were  at  all  necessary  to  an 
Evangelical  church,  and  subtlely  undermined  their  author- 
ity.    He  pretended  to  always  aim  at  keeping  the  peace 

201 


202  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

of  the  church,  yet  he  was  always  silently  introducing 
rationalism, 

During  his  administration  the  church  began  to  decline. 
Education  became  literary,  rather  than  religious.  Pro- 
fessors Bodmer  and  Breitinger,  especially  the  former. 
were  the  regenerators  of  German  literature,  which,  under 
the  influence  of  Frederick  the  Great  and  Voltaire,  had 
degenerated  into  a  mere  imitation  of  French  literature. 
Bodmer  called  Germany  back  to  self-consciousness,  when 
not  a  voice  in  Germany  had  yet  been  lifted  in  its  favor. 
The  younger  men,  of  whom  J.  C.  Lavater  was  the 
leader,  inclined  generally  to  the  new  rationalistic  views. 
More  and  more,  the  students  became  familiar  with  Ger- 
man neological  thought,  and  Germany,  instead  of  Hol- 
land, became  the  land  whither  they  went  for  their  foreign 
studies.     Antistes  Wirz  died  1769. 

Section  2 

prof.  john  jacob  zimmermann 

But  the  real  leader  of  the  church  was  not  in  the 
antistes'  chair.  The  professor  of  theology,  J.  J.  Zimmer- 
mann,  overtopped  the  influence  of  the  antistes,  especially 
by  moulding  the  young  ministers,  who  were  his  students, 
in  the  new  rationalistic  thought.  He  was  born  December 
10,  1695.  The  natural  bent  of  his  mind  was  toward 
liberal  views.  Thus,  when  he  was  studying  theology,  he 
would  read  the  very  books  that  his  orthodox  and  high 
Calvinistic  professors  told  him  not  to  read.  During  one 
of  his  vacations  he  read  the  theology  of  Limborch,  against 
which  Professor  Hottinger  had  especially  warned  him.* 
As  the  rooms  of  the  students  were  liable  to  be 
searched  for  heretical  books,  he  secreted  his  Arminian 

*  This  Hottinger  must  not  be  confused  with  the  Hottinger 
of  whom  we  have  spoken  before.  He  was  a  later  member  of  the 
same  family  and  intensely  Calvinistic. 


ZURICH 


203 


and  Socinian  books  under  his  pillow.  When  leaving 
Zurich  to  go  to  foreign  universities,  Hottinger  gave 
him  a  long  list  of  books  against  which  he  warned  him. 
Zimmermann  heard  him  patiently,  but  afterwards  wrote 
about  it,  saying,  "It  would  have  suited  me  better  if  he  had 
given  me  a  ducat  for  my  journey."  For  he  had  been 
given  only  50  thalers  for  his  trip,  while  the  other  students 
had  received  200  thalers.  This  difference  was  made 
because  of  his  suspected  leanings  to  Arminianism.  He 
was  sent  to  Bremen,  in  the  hope  that  the  strong  Calvin- 
istic  influence  there  would  destroy  his  tendency  to  Ar- 
minianism. But  he  did  not  feel  at  home  there.  He  tired 
of  the  Calvinistic  theological  lectures  and  sermons.  He 
tersely  writes,  "I  often  put  them  (Tillotson's  sermons, 
which  were  then  the  leading  Arminian  sermons)  in  my 
pocket,  and  pretend  to  go  to  St.  Stephen's  Church  to 
service.  But  I  stop  at  the  house  of  Meier,  the  barber, 
who  is  from  Zurich.  Then  with  a  cup  of  tea  and  a  pipe 
of  tobacco,  I  read  Tillotson's  sermons.  And  when  the 
church  is  out,  I  join  the  crowd  going  home  from  church. 
But  I  feel  I  was  more  benefited  than  they."  He  re- 
turned to  Zurich  an  adherent  of  Limborch,  Tillotson  and 
Grotius. 

When  he  returned  to  Zurich  he  would  read  Oster- 
wald's  catechism  with  some  of  the  students,  and  from  it 
raise  questions  in  their  minds  about  Calvinistic  doctrines. 
For  some  years  he  could  get  no  position  at  Zurich,  be- 
cause of  the  opposition  of  Professor  Hottinger.  But  when 
Hottinger  died,  1737,  he  was  elected  professor  of  church 
history.  That  year  (1737)  was,  indeed,  an  epochal  year 
for  Zurich,  for  it  gave  to  her  both  a  rationalistic  antistes 
and  a  rationalistic  professor  of  theology.  There  was  no 
question  as  to  his  ability,  but  the  objection  to  him  was 
that  he  was  not  Calvinistic,  like  Hottinger.  Yet  he  con- 
sidered himself  mediating  in  theology,  for  he  aimed  to 
take  a  middle  position  between  the  deists  of  England,  on 


204  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

the  one  hand,  and  strict  Calvinism,  on  the  other.  For 
some  time  he  taught  quietly,  but  it  was  only  a  question  of 
time,  when  the  newer  ideas  would  come  into  conflict  with 
the  old.  This  occurred  in  1741,  at  the  festival  of  Charle- 
magne.* Professor  Zimmermann  utilized  this  occasion  to 
ventilate  his  new  views.  His  topic  was :  "The  Imper- 
fection of  our  Theological  Perception  Here  Compared 
with  the  Excellence  of  that  of  Heavenly  Beings."  He 
dwelt  especially  on  the  inexactness  of  our  theological 
sciences.  Exegesis  was  too  dogmatic,  and  dogmatics  was 
not  sufficiently  proved.  Church  history  was  not  clear,  as 
often  opposing  parties  would  appeal  to  the  same  Church 
Fathers.  Then  in  strongest  contrast  with  the  imperfec- 
tion of  our  knowledge  here,  he  placed  our  knowledge  in 
the  future  life,  when  the  hindrances  of  our  present  life 
shall  have  been  taken  away,  and  the  glorified  body  will 
be  the  perfect  organ  of  spiritual  perception.  With  biting 
sarcasm,  he  added :  "There  will  then  be  no  more  councils 
controlled  by  a  majority  vote,  gained  by  mere  temporal 
authority,  and  the  ministry  will  no  longer  be  oppressed 
by  a  mistaken  zeal  for  glorifying  God."  The  impression 
made  by  the  address  was  one  of  doubt,  instead  of  faith. 
His  address  caused  a  tremendous  sensation.  It  was 
really  a  rationalistic  declaration  of  independence  in  the 
Zurich  Church,  which,  from  Zwingli  down,  had  held  to  the 
authority  of  Scripture  and  the  church.  Seeing  the 
storm  that  was  gathering  about  him,  Zimmermann  pub- 
lished the  address,  adding  an  appendix,  in  which  he  com- 
plained against  the  charges  of  rationalism  brought  against 
him.  But  its  publication  did  not  break  the  opposition. 
The  dekans  unitedly  presented  to  the  antistes  objections 
to  the  address,  and  demanded  that  the  matter  should  be 

*  Zurich  always  looked  back  with  pride  and  thankfulness  to 
Charlemagne,  because  he  had  made  large  donations  to  her  cathe- 
dral, and  therefore  his  statue  is  to-day  to  be  seen  in  the  tower 
of  the  cathedral. 


ZURICH  205 

brought  up  before  the  next  synod.  The  antistes,  as  far  as 
he  could,  tried  to  shield  Zimmermann.  But  at  the  pro- 
synod  of  1742  peace  was  made,  after  a  discussion  of  five 
hours,  in  which  Zimmermann  made  significant  concessions. 
The  concession  to  the  orthodox  was  that  the  church  re- 
tained its  old  creeds,  even  the  Helvetic  Consensus.*  Out- 
wardly the  victory  seemed  to  be  with  the  orthodox,  but 
really  it  was  with  Zimmermann,  for  he  was  left  in  his 
professor's  chair,  although  he  received  a  mild  rebuke  to 
restrain  himself  from  philosophizing  on  high  and  mys- 
terious things.  From  this  vantage  ground,  as  professor, 
he  could  continue  to  poison  the  minds  of  the  young  men, 
who  were  preparing  for  the  future  ministry  of  the  church. 
For  the  conservatives,  who  were  the  older  men,  were 
gradually  dying  off,  and  their  places  were  being  taken 
by  the  younger  ministers,  whose  minds  Zimmermann  had 
filled  with  his  rationalism. 

But,  although  the  pro-synod  decided  in  favor  of  the 
old  creeds,  gradually  their  authority  was  lessened.  Zim- 
mermann, like  Wirz,  aimed  to  set  them  aside.  For  he 
claimed  that  the  value  of  a  doctrine  was  its  practical 
worth.  And  doctrine  went  ever  into  morals.  Chris- 
tianity consisted  not  so  much  of  experience  as  of  the 
ethical. 

But,  while  Zimmermann  was  a  rationalist,  he  was  not 
a  vulgar  rationalist,  like  Basedow.  The  vulgar  ration- 
alist, at  Zurich,  at  that  time,  was  Henry  Corrodi,  profes- 
sor of  ethics  and  natural  sciences,  a  close  follower  of 
Semler  and  Ernesti.  Zurich  at  this  time  even  tried  to 
show  its  abhorrence  of  blatant  rationalism  by  banishing 
Meister,  the  pastor  at  Kussnacht,  for  his  infidelity.  Zim- 
mermann was  a  syncretic  theologian,  that  is,  he  tried  to 
combine  different  systems  of  doctrine.     His  main  work, 

*  See  "Zurich  in  der  zweiten  Haelfte  des  achtzehntens  Jahr- 
hunderts";  also  Finsler  in  Meili's  "Theologische  Zeitschrift," 
1895,  page  189. 


206  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

"The  Causes  of  Growing  Unbelief,  and  the  Proper  Meth- 
ods of  Counteracting  It,"  reminds  one  somewhat  of  Schlei- 
ermacher's  famous  "Addresses."  But,  unlike  Schleier- 
macher,  who  aimed  to  mediate  between  pantheism  and 
orthodoxy,  Zimmermann  had  no  sympathy  with  pan- 
theism. This  may  be  accounted  for  by  the  fact  that  the 
only  pantheism  he  knew  was  the  gross  form  of  pantheism 
of  Spinoza,  against  whom  Zimmermann  wrote.  Zim- 
mermann died  1757,  but  his  rationalistic  influence  re- 
mained long  after  him. 

Section  3 

antistes  john  rudolph  ulrich  (i/69-95) 

The  second  rationalistic  antistes  was  born,  December 
12,  1728.  As  a  boy  he  revealed  an  inquiring  mind.  See- 
ing a  beautiful  eel  in  a  fishpond,  among  the  fishes,  he 
leaned  over  so  far  that  he  fell  in,  and  was  rescued  with 
difficulty.  This  inquisitiveness  about  knowledge  followed 
him  ever  after,  and  led  him  to  break  with  the  old  theolog- 
ical ideas,  especially  as  Professor  Zimmermann  was  his 
teacher.  After  study  in  foreign  lands,  he  became  pro- 
fessor of  oratory  at  Zurich,  and  pastor  of  the  Orphan- 
age Church,  at  Zurich.  He  was  a  finished  orator.  His 
sermons  were  strong  in  thought,  while  beautiful  in  form. 
He  boldly  attacked  the  public  sins,  and  this  fact  led  to 
his  election  as  antistes  in  1769.  As  antistes  he  tried  to 
pursue  the  middle  ground,  though  evidently  sympathizing 
with  the  rationalists.  By  his  time  rationalism  had  had 
control  long  enough  to  reveal  its  sad  results.  The  church 
attendance  fell  off,  so  that  the  number  of  religious  ser- 
vices was  lessened.  It  was  during  his  term  of  office 
that,  in  1771,  the  Presbyterian  synod  of  New  York  and 
Philadelphia  wrote,  desiring  to  come  into  closer  corre- 


ZURICH 


207 


spondence  with  the  Evangelical  Church  of  Zurich.  To 
this,  Zurich  gladly  agreed.  One  of  the  American  minis- 
ters, it  is  true,  objected  to  the  Swiss,  because  of  the  loose 
theology  of  J.  Alphonse  Turretin.  Had  the  American 
Church,  which  was  the  Evangelical,  known  the  true  con- 
dition of  the  Zurich  Church  at  that  time,  they  would 
hardly  have  asked  for  correspondence.  But  this  corre- 
spondence amounted  to  nothing,  as  shortly  after  our  Revo- 
lutionary War  broke  out,  and  cut  off  foreign  corre- 
spondence. 

On  a  night  in  September,  1775,  it  was  found  that 
the  sacramental  wine  in  the  cathedral  at  Zurich  had  been 
poisoned.  Fortunately  the  poison  had  not  had  time  to 
dissolve  properly,  and  so  only  a  few  suffered.  This 
created  a  tremendous  sensation.  Lavater  in  St.  Peter's 
Church  at  Zurich,  preached  on  it  his  famous  ''Marrow  and 
Bone-breaking"  sermon.  And  the  antistes  in  whose 
church  it  occurred,  preached  on  the  text:  "My  house 
shall  be  a  house  of  prayer,"  etc.  This  poisoning  of  the 
wine,  fortunately,  did  not  succeed,  but  the  poison  of 
rationalism,  which  was  worse,  did  succeed,  in  the  church, 
as  rationalism  became  prevalent  everywhere* 

And  yet,  in  spite  of  this  prevalent  rationalism,  brave 
defenders  of  the  old  faith  appeared.  One  of  them  was 
the  historian,  Fuessli,  of  Feltheim.  As  a  historian,  his 
aim  was  to  reproduce  the  past  history  of  the  Zurich 
Church,  and  show  how  far  this  new  school  had  drifted 
from  the  old  moorings.  In  doing  so,  he  was  led  to  un- 
cover some  valuable  sources  of  Reformed  Church  his- 

*  As  a  type  of  rationalistic  sermons,  John  Fasi  published 
1791,  at  Burgdorf,  a  book  of  sermons,  preached  in  Thurgau,  on 
"Remarkable  Objects  in  Nature."  Thus  the  text  of  one  was 
"Who  Giveth  his  Cattle  Food."  In  it  he  had  the  following 
divisions:  1.  How  God  sustains  cattle.  2.  What  obligations  this 
lays  on  us?  3.  What  special  duty,  according  to  reason  and 
humanity,  follows  from  this? 


208  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

tory,  which  he  published.  But  he  was  bitterly  persecuted 
by  the  rationalists.  Canon  Breitinger,  the  learned  pub- 
lisher of  the  "Septuagint,"  and  an  outspoken  rationalist, 
attacked  him,  and  did  so  in  a  personal  way,  by  publishing 
a  mutilated  letter  of  Fuessli's.  When  Fuessli  attempted 
to  reply,  Breitinger,  as  the  city  censor  of  Zurich,  pre- 
vented his  reply  from  being  published,  and  Fuessli  had 
to  get  it  published  elsewhere  than  in  Zurich.  Then 
Breitinger  accused  Fuessli  of  slander  (though  he,  him- 
self, had  made  the  first  personal  attack),  and  finally 
forced  Fuessli  to  make  an  apology. 

Ziegler,  pastor  at  St.  Jacob's,  also  attacked  the  Socin- 
ianism  that  was  coming  into  the  church,  in  a  sermon. 
For  this,  he  was  called  before  the  board  of  examiners. 
But  there  he  boldly  defended  himself,  saying:  "One  used 
to  find  in  the  library  of  the  ministers,  the  books  of  Hot- 
tinger  and  Heidegger.  But  now  Basedow's,  Benson's  and 
Clark's  were  to  be  found — nothing  good  was,  therefore 
to  be  expected."  In  his  bold  defence  of  the  old  doctrines, 
he  did  not  even  except  the  antistes  from  blame. 

There  also  occurred,  as  there  always  does  in  those  times 
of  rationalism,  a  reaction  into  pietism.  Pietism  had  been 
suppressed  by  the  Zurich  authorities,  and  treated  as  un- 
churchly.  But  now  it  appeared  within  the  church.  John 
Caspar  Ulrich,  pastor  of  the  Fraumunster  Church,  Zurich, 
was  its  leader.  He  had  been  a  devoted  student  of  Prof. 
F.  A.  Lampe,  the  churchly  Reformed  pietist  of  Utrecht 
and  Bremen.  Ulrich,  as  a  popular  preacher,  exerted  a 
great  influence  on  the  students  against  the  increasing 
rationalism.  He  held  prayer  meetings  for  the  Evangeli- 
cals. It  was  during  the  term  of  this  antistes  that  J.  C. 
Lavater  lifted  up  his  voice  against  rationalism,  and  from 
being  its  popular  leader,  became  the  leader  of  orthodoxy. 
With  Lavater,  was  his  assistant  Pffenninger  and  the  de- 
votional writer,  Tobler.     Antistes  Ulrich  died  1795. 


ZURICH  209 

Section  4 

john  casper  lavater* 

In  the  return  tide  to  orthodoxy,  two  men  become 
prominent,  John  Casper  Lavater  and  John  Jacob  Hess. 

John  Casper  Lavater  was  one  of  the  most  brilliant 
men  Zurich  ever  produced.  He  has  been  called  the 
"Fenelon  of  the  Germans,"  because  of  his  remarkable 
combination  of  piety  and  literary  excellence.  He  was 
born  at  Zurich,  November  15,  1741.  In  his  early  life  he 
did  not  show  the  remarkable  qualities  he  afterward 
revealed.  He  was  a  somewhat  dull,  retiring,  awkward, 
delicate  boy.  He  was  dreamy,  and  would  fancy  great 
things.  Because  of  his  weak  constitution,  he  was  kept 
from  other  boys,  and  so  grew  up  clumsy,  bashful  and 
reserved.  Often  ridiculed  in  the  school,  he  withdrew 
himself  from  society  within  himself.  Fortunate  for 
him  was  it,  that  his  first  teacher  knew  how  to  deal  with 
him,  and,  in  spite  of  Lavater's  faults,  he  would  say: 
"There  will  still  something  come  out  of  little  Casper." 
This  teacher's  confidence  aroused  him.  With  the  de- 
cision, "God  willing,  I  will  be  a  brave  man,"  he  entered 
on  his  studies,  and  soon  revealed  remarkable  develop- 
ment. His  independent  spirit,  and  love  of  justice,  is 
shown  under  a  later  teacher,  who  proceeded  to  punish 
him.  Lavater  demanded  the  reason.  The  master  re- 
fused to  give  it.  Lavater  then  left  the  school  after  the 
punishment,  denouncing  such  tyranny,  and  went  to  make 
complaint  against  the  teacher.  The  master  afterwards 
tried  to  make  peace  with  Lavater,  but  the  latter  never 

*  See  "J-  C.  Lavater,"  by  Bodeman.  Also  Lavater  in  Zim- 
merman's "Zurcher  Kirche."  Also  Morikofer  "Schweizericher 
Litirateur    des    achtzehnten   Jahrhunderts,"    1867,    332-406.     Also 

"Denkschrift  an  J.  C.  Lavater,"  1902. 
14 


210  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

would  accept  his  overtures. 

As  a  boy,  he  revealed  a  deep  religious  nature.  He 
was  fond  of  the  Bible  characters  of  the  Old  Testament, 
as  Elijah  and  Elisha,  rather  than  of  Christ.  As  a  boy  he 
had  great  faith  in  prayer.  Once  he  lost  money.  He 
prayed,  and  lo,  his  grandmother  gave  him  some  money, 
so  his  mother  never  knew  his  loss  of  the  money.  This 
religious  tendency  is  revealed  also  by  a  striking  incident. 
One  day  Rev.  Casper  Ulrich  visited  his  school,  and  asked, 
among  other  questions,  who,  among  the  boys,  would 
become  a  minister.  Lavater,  who  was  only  ten  years  old, 
cried  out,  "I,  I."  And,  as  he  uttered  these  words,  there 
arose  in  his  heart  a  great  desire  for  the  ministry,  and  he 
went  joyfully  home,  announcing,  "I  will  be  a  minister." 
This  decision  was  somewhat  contrary  to  the  wishes  of 
his  parents,  who  desired  him  to  become  a  physician,  as  the 
ministry  was  not  so  highly  esteemed,  at  that  time,  by 
them.  They  asked  a  leading  minister  what  to  do  about 
their  son,  as  he  was  bent  on  going  into  the  ministry. 
This  minister  suggested  that  Lavater  be  allowed  to  regis- 
ter as  a  theological  student,  and,  if  necessary,  he  might 
later  change  to  some  other  course.  But  Lavater  never 
changed  his  mind  on  this  subject.  At  the  age  of  thirteen, 
he  attended  the  classical  school  at  Zurich,  and  came  under 
the  inspiring  teaching  of  Breitinger  and  Bodmer,  the 
regenerators  of  German  literature.  Bodmer  has  been 
called  the  "Milton  of  Zurich,"  but  his  works  do  not 
approach  Milton's  in  grandeur,  although  Bodmer  wrote 
an  epic  called  "Noah."  There  is  this  difference  between 
Milton  and  Bodmer:  Milton  was  a  Puritan  and  inspired 
by  an  intense  faith.  Bodmer  was  a  rationalist,  and 
rationalism  robbed  him  of  the  power  of  great  religious 
inspiration ;  but  he  was  a  great  literary  critic  and  teacher. 
Lavater,   under   Bodmer  and    Breitinger,   was   educated 


ZURICH  211 

out  of  his  early  simple  faith  and  strongly  inclined  to 
make  the  search  for  truth  and  liberty  of  thought  his 
ideals. 

But,  though  he  minimized  the  religious  side  of  his 
nature,  he  could  get  entirely  away  from  it.  The  intellect 
can  never  starve  the  heart  or  the  conscience.  When 
fourteen  years  of  age,  the  Lisbon  earthquake  greatly 
startled  him.  The  death  of  his  brother,  eighteen  days 
later,  also  deeply  impressed  him.  He  gave  vent  to  his 
higher  nature  by  the  writing  of  poetry.  In  this  Bodmer's 
influence  is  evident,  for  he  stimulated  Lavater  to  write 
poetry.  He  also  wrote  some  hymns,  as  "Jesus  on  Gol- 
gotha." In  1759  he  entered  the  theological  class,  and  in 
1761  preached  his  first  sermon,  on  Ecclesiastes  7 : 3. 
Here  he  already  revealed  his  oratorical  ability.  For, 
when  he  uttered  the  words,  "At  each  moment  we  take 
a  step  into  eternity,"  the  clock  of  the  church  struck. 
He  paused  until  it  had  ended,  the  pause  greatly  heighten- 
ing the  effect  of  his  sentence.  Then  he  continued,  "Do 
you  hear  that,  brethren?  Now  that  hour  is  past.  We 
are  all  another  hour  nearer  the  end."  He  was  ordained 
in  the  spring  of  1762.  In  a  letter  at  that  time  he  gives 
expression  to  his  consecration,  "I  will  humbly  throw 
myself  before  my  Creator  and  Saviour  and  sincerely 
resolve  never  to  stand  still — never  to  grow  weary  of 
knowing  God  in  all  things." 

Just  at  that  time  he  revealed  his  great  love  for  liberty 
and  justice  by  a  very  bold  act. 

In  the  little  village  of  Grueningen,  one  of  the  baili- 
wicks of  Zurich,  there  was  a  magistrate  named  Felix 
Grebel,  who,  by  his  oppressions  and  extortions,  had 
greatly  embittered  the  people  against  him.  The  sufferers, 
being  poor,  were  afraid  to  bring  complaints  against  him, 
especially  as  Grebel  had  social  influence,  being  the  son- 
in-law  of  the  burgomaster.  When  Lavater  heard  of  this, 
his  soul  was  fired  at  the  injustice.  After  earnest  prayer, 
he  wrote  a  letter,  August  2,  1762,  to  Grebel,  signed  J.  C. 


212  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

L.  No  one  knew  who  wrote  it  except  his  friend  Fuessli. 
In  this  letter  he  gave  to  Grebel  two  months  in  which 
to  restore  what  he  had  unjustly  taken  or  he  would  bring 
him  publicly  to  court;  but  Grebel  paid  no  attention  to 
the  letter.  The  time  having  passed,  Lavater  had  the 
letter  printed  under  the  title,  "The  Unjust  Bailiff,  or  the 
Complaints  of  a  Patriot."  This  letter  he  caused  to  be 
placed,  on  November  30,  1762,  at  the  doors  of  the  differ- 
ent members  of  the  city  council.  This  act  created  a 
tremendous  sensation.  The  council  ordered  the  author 
to  appear  within  a  month  to  prove  charges  or  be  pun- 
ished for  slander.  At  first  Lavater  had  concealed  his 
name,  but,  when  the  matter  was  called  up,  he  and  his 
friend  Fuessli,  who  had  helped  him,  boldly  came  forward 
and  named  themselves  as  the  complainants.  Meanwhile 
the  matter  had  become  public,  and  many  of  the  persons 
whom  Grebel  had  oppressed,  to  the  number  of  twenty, 
appeared  personally  to  bring  complaints.  Meanwhile 
Lavater  had  become  greatly  anxious  about  the  matter 
on  account  of  its  effect  on  his  parents.  He  finally  con- 
fided the  matter  to  antistes  Wirz,  who  went  and  told 
his  parents.  "Rejoice,"  he  said  to  them,  "at  such  a  son 
who  speaks  when  no  other  person  dares  to  speak." 
His  mother  then  greatly  sustained  him  in  the  trying 
ordeal.  But  meanwhile  the  publicity  and  the  number 
of  complainants  had  made  it  too  hot  for  Grebel.  He 
fled  and  confessed  his  guilt.  The  government  dismissed 
him  and  confiscated  his  property  and  made  restoration 
to  those  whom  he  had  unjustly  treated.  Thus  Lavater 
came  out  victorious  and  the  bravery  of  the  young  man 
made  him  the  idol  of  the  people.  All  Switzerland  won- 
dered at  his  courage.  When  Goethe  heard  of  it,  he 
enthusiastically  cried  out,  "You  brave  minister,  you  true 
man!     Such  a  deed  is  worth  a  thousand  books." 

Soon  after  this  he  travelled  with  his  friends  Fuessli 
and  Felix  Hess  to  Germany.  Breitinger,  one  of  his 
teachers,  had  advised  him,  instead  of  going  for  study 
to  foreign  universities,  to  visit  famous  men.  Lavater 
wanted  especially  to  visit  Spalding  at  Barth,  in  Pome- 
rania,  whose  writings  had  attracted  him,  for  Spald- 
ing, instead  of  preaching  the  old  Evangelical  doctrines, 


ZURICH  213 

held  to  freedom  of  thought  and  emphasized  the  ethical. 
He  called  the  Twelve  not  apostles,  but  depositories  of 
public  morals.  But,  though  he  had  this  rationalistic 
tendency,  there  was  an  undertone  of  deep  faith  and  piety 
about  him,  and  Lavater  sympathized  with  his  views.  He 
stayed  with  Spalding  for  nine  months  and  was  much 
influenced  by  him.  Euler,  the  Swiss  mathematician,  then 
living  in  Berlin,  jocosely  asked  Lavater,  when  he  after- 
wards came  to  Berlin,  whether  it  was  right  for  two 
Reformed  ministers  (Lavater  and  Fuessli)  to  come  so 
far  and  stay  so  long  with  a  Lutheran  minister,  adding 
the  question,  "Have  you  reformed  Spalding,  or  has  he 
made  a  Lutheran  of  you?"  Both  replied,  "We  are  con- 
vinced of  the  truth  of  Christianity."  On  his  way  home, 
Lavater  stayed  at  Quendlinburg  with  Klopstock  and  re- 
ceived a  new  impulse  to  poetry.  On  September  4,  1763, 
he  wrote  his  great  missionary  hymn,  "Lord,  how  many 
sheep  have  still  no  shepherd."  He  also  visited  Jerusalem 
at  Brunswick,  Gellert  and  Zollikofer  at  Leipsic,  court- 
preacher  Sack  and  the  philosopher  Mendelssohn  at  Ber- 
lin.   He  returned  to  Zurich  in  March,  1764. 

For  five  years  he  was  without  a  pastorate,  but  he 
kept  himself  busy  at  literary  work  and  also  in  preaching 
for  others.  During  this  period  he  published  his  "Swiss 
Songs"  (1767),  which  gave  him  great  fame  among  his 
countryment  for  patriotism.  They  were  often  sung  up 
to  the  French  Revolution.  He  wrote  them  in  fourteen 
days.  In  them  he  describes  Tell  and  the  Swiss  battles 
for  liberty.  Many  Swiss  would  make  pilgrimages  to 
Tell's  chapel  to  sing  them  there.  They  passed  through 
more  editions  than  any  other  of  his  works. 

On  June  3,  1766,  he  married  Anna  Schinz,  who 
proved  a  suitable  and  pious  helpmeet.*  From  1768-1773 
he  published  a  religious  work  entitled  "Views  into  Eter- 

*  For  her  life  see  my  "Famous  Women  of  the  Reformed 
Church." 


214  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

nity."  They  were  twenty-four  letters  addressed  to  Zim- 
merman, the  celebrated  author  of  "Solitude."  They 
were  a  philosophical  attempt  to  prove  immortality,  but 
they  were  not  considered  orthodox,  and  one  misses  in  them 
his  later  emphasis  on  redemption  through  Christ.  Cham- 
berlain Fuessli,  of  Veltheim,  made  charges  against  them 
because  they  lowered  the  authority  of  the  Old  Testament 
— reduced  Christ  to  an  ordinary  man — and  contained  the 
pantheism  of  Spinoza.  Lavater  was  cited  before  the 
consistory,  who  exonerated  him.  The  book  revealed  his 
marked  ability  and  also  his  early  latitudinarian  views. 
Yet  it  had  great  influence.  There  is  a  touching  story 
told  about  it  that  when  Lavater  visited  the  blind  writer, 
Pfeffel,  at  Colmar,  in  Germany,  the  blind  man  asked, 
"Who  are  you?"  The  answer  was,  "Lavater  of  Zurich." 
"Which  Lavater?"  asked  the  blind  man,  "The  assistant 
who  has  looked  into  eternity?"  "Yes,"  was  the  reply. 
The  blind  man  greatly  rejoiced  to  meet  him  and  bade 
him  sit  down  at  his  side.  In  1768  he  founded,  at  the 
suggestion  of  Breitinger,  the  Ascetic  Society,  which 
aimed  at  philanthropic  work,  as  the  visitation  of  prison- 
ers and  preparation  of  criminals  for  death.  It  also  held 
meetings  for  theological  discussion,  which  later  became 
its  most  prominent  feature.  It  still  exists  as  a  section 
of  the  Preachers'  Society  of  Switzerland. 

On  April  7,  1769,  Lavater  was  elected  assistant  at 
the  Orphanage  Church  at  Zurich,  at  a  salary  of  $64  a 
year.    At  this  appointment  he  wrote  in  his  Diary : 

"I  receive  from  thy  hand,  O  Lord,  a  little  parish  in 
which  I  shall  publicly  preach  Thy  gospel.  Give  me  the 
freedom  to  say  all  that  is  true,  all  that  is  useful  to  man- 
kind. Let  no  cowardly  complacency  induce  me  to  conceal 
what  it  is  good  to  make  known.  May  I  ever  speak  as  in 
Thy  presence,  my  God.  May  I  ever  feel  that  I  must 
not  become  the  slave  of  men." 

In  that  year  came  his  attempt  to  convert  the  Jewish 
philosopher,  Mendelssohn,  to  Christianity.     He  had  vis- 


ZURICH  215 

ited  Mendelssohn  in  Germany  and  greatly  honored  him. 
After  his  return  he  greatly  mourned  that  this  beautiful 
soul  was  outside  of  Christianity.  While  he  was  prepar- 
ing his  work,  "Views  into  Eternity,"  he  had  been  reading 
Bonnet's  "Palingenesia,"  and  was  so  impressed  with  the 
second  part  of  it  (where  Bonnet  gives  the  proofs  of 
Christianity)  that  it  appeared  to  him  that  every  searcher 
for  truth  must  be  won  to  Christianity  by  it.  So  he  trans- 
lated it  and  dedicated  it  to  Mendelssohn,  giving  him  the 
alternative  of  either  answering  it  or  accepting  Christian- 
ity. But  he  was  indiscreet  in  making  known  in  it  some 
private  conversations  of  Mendelssohn  with  him,  in  which 
Mendelssohn  had  spoken  in  terms  of  veneration  of  the 
moral  character  of  Jesus.  The  book  raised  a  storm 
against  him,  especially  on  the  part  of  the  Jews.  Men- 
delssohn replied  calmly  and  cautiously,  complaining  in 
a  dignified  way  of  Lavater's  imprudence ;  but  he  refused 
to  be  drawn  into  religious  controversy,  and  asked  Lava- 
ter  not  to  demand  a  detailed  answer.  Lavater  with 
humility  confessed  his  fault.  Mendelssohn  hastened  to 
render  full  homage  to  Lavater's  upright  intentions.  The 
correspondence  is  a  model  of  urbanity  and  frankness. 
Criticisms  on  Lavater  for  this  continued  even  until  1771, 
when  it  happened  Lavater  baptized  two  Jews  of  promi- 
nent families.  Lichtenberger  made  use  of  this  to  write 
a  satire  on  Lavater. 

His  parish  proved  laborious,  for  in  addition  to  preach- 
ing he  had  to  instruct  the  orphans  and  minister  to  con- 
victs in  the  penitentiary.  He  tells  the  following  story 
in  his  diary,  July  2,  1769: 

"My  wife  asked  me  during  dinner  what  sentiment 
I  had  chosen  for  the  day.  'Give  to  him  that  asketh  thee 
and  from  him  that  would  borrow  turn  not  away.'  Tray. 
how  is  this  to  be  understood?'  asked  she.  'Literally,'  I 
replied.  'We  must  take  the  words  as  if  we  heard  Jesus 
Christ  himself  pronounce  them.  I  am  the  steward,  not 
the  proprietor,  of  my  possessions.' 


216  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

"Just  as  I  arose  from  dinner,  a  widow  desired  to 
speak  to  me.  'You  must  excuse  me,  dear  sir,'  she  said. 
'I  must  pay  my  rent  and  I  am  six  dollars  short.  I  have 
been  ill  a  month  and  could  scarcely  keep  my  children 
from  starving.  I  have  laid  by  every  penny,  but  I  am 
six  dollars  short  and  must  have  them  to-day  or  to-mor- 
row. Pray  hear  me,  dear  sir.'  Here  she  presented  me  a 
book  encased  in  silver.  'My  late  husband,'  she  said,  'gave 
it  to  me  when  we  were  betrothed.  I  part  with  it  with 
great  reluctance  and  know  not  when  I  can  redeem  it.  O 
dear  sir,  can  you  not  assist  me?'  'My  poor  woman,  indeed 
I  can  not.'  So  saying,  I  put  my  hand  in  my  pocket  and 
touched  my  money.  I  had  about  two  dollars  and  a  half. 
'It  won't  do,'  said  I  to  myself,  'and  if  it  would,  I  should 
want  it.'  'Have  you  no  friends,'  said  I,  'who  would  give 
you  such  a  trifle?'  'No,  not  a  soul  living,  and  I  do  not 
like  to  go  from  house  to  house.  I  would  rather  work 
whole  nights.  I  have  been  told  that  you  are  a  good- 
natured  gentleman,  and,  if  you  can  not  assist,  you  will, 
I  hope,  excuse  me  for  having  given  you  so  much  trouble. 
I  will  try  in  some  way  to  extricate  myself.  God  has 
never  forsaken  me,  and  I  hope  he  will  not  begin  to  turn 
his  back  on  me  in  my  seventy-sixth  year.' 

"The  same  moment  my  wife  began  to  enter  the  room. 
I  was  angry,  ashamed,  and  should  have  been  glad  if  I 
could  have  sent  her  away  under  some  pretext  or  other, 
for  my  conscience  whispered  to  me,  'Give  to  him  that 
asketh  thee.'  My  wife,  too,  whispered  irresistibly  in  my 
ear,  'She  is  a  pious,  honest  woman.  She  has  certainly 
been  ill.  Assist  her  if  you  can.'  'I  have  no  more  than 
two  dollars,'  said  I,  'and  she  wants  six.  How,  therefore, 
can  I  answer  her  demand?  I  will  give  her  something 
and  send  her  away.'  My  wife  squeezed  my  hand  ten- 
derly, smiling  and  beseeching  me  by  her  looks.  She  had 
then  said  what  my  conscience  had  whispered  to  me 
before,  'Give  to  him  that  asketh  thee,'  etc.  I  smiled  and 
asked  her  whether  she  would  give  her  ring  in  order  to 
enable  me  to  do  it.  'With  great  pleasure,'  said  she, 
pulling  off  her  ring.  The  woman  was  either  too  simple 
to  observe  this  or  too  modest  to  take  advantage  of  it. 
However,  when  she  was  going,  my  wife  told  her  to  wait 
a  little  in  the  passage.  'Were  you  in  earnest  when  you 
offered  your  ring?'  said  I,  as  soon  as  we  were  in  private. 


ZURICH 


217 


'I  am  surprised  that  you  ask  such  a  question,'  said  she. 
'Do  you  think  I  sport  with  charity?  Remember  what 
you  said  an  hour  ago.  And  do  you  not  know  that  there 
are  six  dollars  in  your  bureau  and  that  it  will  be  a  quar- 
ter-day in  ten  days  ?'  I  pressed  my  wife  to  my  bosom 
and  dropped  a  tear.  'You  are  more  righteous  than  I. 
Keep  your  ring.  You  have  made  me  blush.'  I  then  went 
to  the  bureau  and  took  the  six  dollars.  When  I  was 
going  to  open  the  door  to  call  the  widow,  I  was  seized 
with  horror,  because  I  had  said,  'I  can  not  help  you.' 
'There,'  I  said,  'take  the  money  that  you  want.'  She 
seemed  at  first  to  suppose  it  was  only  a  small  contribu- 
tion and  kissed  my  hand.  But  when  she  saw  the  six 
dollars,  her  astonishment  was  so  great  that  for  a  moment 
she  could  not  speak.  She  then  said,  'How  shall  I  thank 
you?  I  cannot  repay  you.  I  have  got  nothing  but  this 
book,  and  it  is  old.'  'Keep  your  book  and  the  money,' 
said  I,  'and  thank  God,  not  me.  Indeed,  I  do  not  deserve 
it,  because  I  have  hesitated  so  long  to  assist  you.  Go 
and  say  not  one  word  more.'  " 

In  1770-71  a  great  famine  prevailed,  so  that  many 
died  of  hunger.  This  gave  him  great  opportunities  for 
religious  work.  Crowds  of  hungry  people  passed  through 
the  streets,  swarming  around  the  houses  of  the  wealthy. 
Lavater  urged  his  congregation  to  great  charity  to  the 
poor,  and  himself  set  an  example.  Large  sums  of  money 
were  given  to  him  to  distribute.  His  house  became  like 
an  almshouse,  where  his  wife  always  had  a  kettle  of  soup 
for  the  poor.  Some  very  interesting  illustrations  are 
given  of  his  life. 

One  day  the  doorbell  rang.  His  wife  saw  from  the 
window  a  poor  man,  who,  because  of  hunger,  was  scarcely 
able  to  stand.  She  hastened  to  him,  but  found  he  had 
already  fallen  to  the  ground.  She  helped  him  to  a  chair 
and  brought  him  some  warm  soup.  She  hastened  to 
bring  him  some  wine  to  revive  him,  but  he  died  as  she 
was  ministering  to  him.  On  another  day  he  and  his  wife, 
while  on  a  walk,  found  a  poor  woman  sitting  on  the 
ground,  trying  to  quiet  her  babe.  The  woman  told  her 
sad  story,  saying  she  had  only  one  request,  and  that  was 
that  God  would  relieve  herself  and  her  child  from  hunger 


2i8  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

by  granting  them  death,  for  she  had  had  nothing  to 
eat  and  could  give  her  child  no  nourishment.  Lavater 
and  his  wife  at  once  returned  home,  taking  the  woman 
and  child  with  them.  After  giving  her  food,  he  saw  that 
she  was  placed  on  the  poor  list  and  received  a  weekly 
allowance. 

In  August,  1773,  he  had  a  narrow  escape  from  drown- 
ing. He  was  visiting  his  friend,  Dr.  Holtz,  at  Richter- 
schwyl,  on  Lake  Zurich.  On  the  day  after  he  started, 
as  Mrs.  Lavater  was  sitting  alone  in  her  husband's  room, 
she  suddenly  became  so  overpowered  by  anxiety  as 
hardly  to  be  able  to  move.  Recovering  herself,  she  went 
to  her  father-in-law  and  told  him  of  her  state  of  mind. 
He  consoled  her  as  well  as  he  could,  and  she  returned 
to  Mr.  Lavater's  room,  fell  on  her  knees,  weeping  and 
praying. 

At  this  very  hour  Lavater's  life  was  in  the  greatest 
danger.  He  had  left  Richterschwyl  to  visit  a  friend  on 
the  other  side  of  the  lake,  at  Oberreid.  When  he  went 
into  the  little  boat  to  go  there,  the  water  was  calm.  Grad- 
ually a  fresh  wind  arose,  and  just  as  they  reached  the 
most  dangerous  point  on  the  lake  the  wind  increased  to  a 
storm.  The  storm  grew  into  a  hurricane  and  the  waves 
rolled  higher  and  higher,  every  moment  threatening  to 
overturn  the  boat.  The  boatmen,  who  had  much  ex- 
perience and  were  generally  fearless,  cried  with  despair- 
ing voices,  "We  shall  go  down !  Down  with  the  sails ! 
Away !  she  strikes !  We  are  lost !"  The  mast  of  the 
little  boat  was  entirely  shattered  by  the  storm.  The  boat- 
men exclaimed,  "We  can  do  nothing  more  !"  Mr.  Lavater 
was  on  his  knees,  praying  for  deliverance  to  God.  It 
was  at  the  same  time  that  Mrs.  Lavater  had  her  presenti- 
ment and  prayed.  God  heard  their  prayers  and  he  was 
saved.  Great  was  her  thankfulness  when,  on  his  return, 
he  told  her  of  his  deliverance. 

In  1774  his  health  broke  down,  and  he  was  supposed 
to  be  suffering  from  consumption.  He  then,  therefore, 
visited  the  baths  at  Ems,  in  western  Germany.  It  was 
on  this  trip  down  the  Rhine  that  he  became  personally 
acquainted  with  Goethe,  which  resulted  in  their  famous 
friendship.     In  1778  he  was  made  full  pastor  at  the  Or- 


ZURICH  219 

phanage  Church,  and  his  friend,  Pfenninger,  became  his 
assistant.  But  that  year  he  was  also  called  as  assistant 
to  the  St.  Peter's,  one  of  the  largest  churches  of  Zurich. 
He  hesitated  accepting  on  account  of  his  ill-health,  for 
he  suffered  much  from  cough  and  vertigo,  which  troubled 
him  all  his  life.  But  he  finally  accepted  it  conscientiously 
as  a  call  of  God,  and  preached  his  first  sermon  there 
July  5,  1778,  on  1  Thes.  5 :  25,  "Brethren,  pray  for  us." 
But,  in  spite  of  his  physical  infirmities,  his  success  was 
phenomenal.  The  attendance  became  so  great  that  seats 
had  to  be  reserved  for  the  members.  His  sermons  were 
of  rare  intellectual  and  spiritual  eloquence. 

By  this  time  he  had  become  well  known  not  only 
in  Switzerland,  but  also  in  other  lands,  especially  in 
Germany.  Perhaps  no  one  of  his  day  except  Albert  von 
Haller  and  Zimmerman  was  so  well  known  abroad  as 
he.  Especially  did  his  friendship  for  Goethe  bring  him 
into  prominence.  Goethe  greatly  admired  him,  and  once, 
on  a  visit  to  Zurich,  said  of  him:  "We  are  happy  in  and 
with  Mr.  Lavater.  It  is  for  us  all  more  than  medicine 
to  be  in  the  presence  of  such  a  man,  who  lives  and  works 
in  the  household  of  love."  He  declared  that  his  inter- 
views with  Lavater  were  the  seal  and  crown  of  his  life, 
and  calls  Lavater  "the  crown  of  mankind."  He  speaks 
of  Lavater  as  "the  greatest,  wisest,  sincerest  of  the  men 
I  know."  Because  of  Lavater's  presence  there,  Zurich 
became  a  sort  of  pilgrimage-place  for  the  learned  toward 
the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century. 

But  a  change  came  over  Lavater  in  his  public  utter- 
ances. He  had,  as  we  have  seen,  belonged  to  the  liberals 
in  theology,  indeed,  was  considered  the  leader  among 
the  younger  ministers  of  that  type.  In  his  love  for  liberty 
of  thought,  he  had  frequently  denounced  the  orthodox. 
Once  he  wrote  to  Bodmer :  "Truly  our  Zurich  people 
are  real  Spanish  inquisitors,  and  I  do  not  believe  that  there 
were   ever   such    zealots   among   Reformed   Christians ' 


220  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

But  now  came  the  reaction.  It  was  his  native  religious- 
ness which  had  been  repressed  for  many  years  by  the 
rationalism  in  which  he  had  been  educated  which  now 
reasserted  itself  over  his  liberal  views.  It  may  have 
come  to  him  gradually,  perhaps  ever  since  1768,  when, 
influenced  by  Hess,  he  spent  much  time  in  Biblical  re- 
search. The  change  may  have  been  gradual,  but  his 
public  expression  of  it  came  suddenly.  It  came  like  a 
thunder-clap  at  the  May  meeting  of  the  Zurich  synod 
in  1779.  There  he  came  out  boldly  against  rationalism 
and  for  orthodoxy.  With  sublime  eloquence  he  closed 
his  address : 

"How  far  has  it  come  among  us  that  one  must  fear 
to  testify  of  Jesus  with  frankness;  that  one  needs  to  be 
ashamed  before  an  assembly  of  most  of  the  teachers 
and  flock  of  Christ  to  issue  a  warning  against  wolves 
in  the  fatherland,  which  do  not  spare  the  dearly-bought 
flock,  but  introduce  pernicious  sects  and  deny  the  Lord 
that  bought  them?  How  far  would  it  have  come  if,  in 
these  days  of  liberty,  he  only  had  to  be  a  slave  who 
feels  himself  called  to  liberty  through  Jesus  Christ  ?  What 
would  be  the  result  if  all  men  would  speak  and  write  and 
read  all  things  against  Christ,  while  that  which  is  favor- 
able to  him  would  find  the  least  acceptance  ?  No ;  so  far 
it  shall  not  come  among  us,  God  willing.  Do  we  all 
with  one  mouth  witness  for  Christ,  with  one  heart  be- 
lieve in  Him,  with  one  strength  fight  for  Him,  and  with 
one  mind  cling  to  Him?" 

He  then  turned  to  the  younger  ministers  and  urged 
them  not  to  allow  any  writer,  be  he  ever  so  renowned,  to 
substitute  any  other  gospel.  "Jesus  Christ  has  not  only 
laid  down  the  foundation,  He  Himself  is  the  founda- 
tion. Do  not  retreat  from  this  foundation.  Noble 
young  men,  do  not  allow  yourselves  to  be  cut  off  from 
the  tree  into  which  you  have  been  ingrafted.  All  wis- 
dom over  against  Christ  is  foolishness,  all  learning,  criti- 
cism and  philology  which  is  rightly  recommended  in  our 
days  is  not  against  Christ,  but  for  Him.  Only  read 
more  than  anything  else  the  Holy  Scriptures,  that  it 
may  be  your  favorite  book."     He  then  spoke  with  mod- 


ZURICH  221 

esty  and  dignity  to  the  professors.  "Your  hearts  must 
be  full  of  Christ,  your  life  must  present  words  of  power 
to  witness  for  Christ,  to  plant  Him  into  the  hearts  of 
your  scholars  with  all  His  wisdom,  power  and  love."  He 
closed  with  a  word  of  respect  to  the  rationalistic  antistes. 
"You  will  surely  evermore  watch  that  the  truth  will  never 
be  stopped  by  injustice,  that  the  gospel  will  never  be 
supplanted  by  that  which  is  not  the  gospel,  however  ex- 
cellent and  favored  it  may  be."  He  added,  "You  will 
all,  brethren  and  sons,  try  to  unite  us  more  and  more 
in  Christ  and  never  consent  that  a  worshipper  of  Christ 
shall  be  hindered  to  speak  and  write  of  Christ,  who  is 
more  precious  to  your  heart  than  anything  in  this  world." 

Ah !  his  native  love  of  liberty  was  asserting  itself.  He 
had  learned  that  there  was  just  as  much  slavery  of 
thought  under  rationalism  as  in  orthodoxy  and  more, 
and  he  refused  to  be  bound  by  it.  He  claimed  the  free- 
dom to  be  an  Evangelical  if  he  wanted.  He  claimed 
for  the  Evangelicals  the  right  to  speak  for  Christ. 

What  had  led  him  to  do  this  we  know  not.  Probably 
the  native  religiousness  of  his  nature  reacted  against 
rationalism.  The  narrowness  of  rationalism,  its  lack 
of  faith  and  of  the  mystical,  failed  to  satisfy  a  heart 
like  his.  He  had  also  become  alarmed  by  the  progress 
of  rationalism.  The  views  of  Voltaire,  who  compared 
Christianity  to  "black-bread  which  at  best  was  good  for 
dogs,"  had  found  its  way  into  thousands  of  hearts. 
Lavater  felt  the  time  had  come  to  call  a  halt  to  this 
tendency.  His  soul  burned  within  him  at  those  per- 
nicious influences.  He  had  become  alarmed  at  the 
progress  of  deism,  and  especially  at  Steinbart's  philosoph- 
ical system,  which  had  been  published  in  1778  These 
were  the  reasons  that  led  him  to  rise  up  and  speak  as 
he  did. 

His  address  at  the  synod  produced  a  tremendous  sen- 
sation. The  antistes  Ulrich,  who  inclined  to  rationalism 
but  always  wanted  peace,  however,  was  not  able  to  con- 
tain himself.     He  answered  the  fiery  words  of  Lavater 


222  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

quite  dryly  by  saying,  "These  charges  do  not  belong  here. 
The  danger  is  greatly  exaggerated.  The  theologians 
complained  of  here  are  in  Germany  and  not  under  the 
control  of  the  synod  of  Zurich.  The  Zurich  ministers 
need  no  such  warning."  (And  yet  all  the  time  Breitinger 
and  Bodmer  were  undermining  the  Evangelical  gospel 
by  their  teachings,  and  he  knew  it  and  sympathized  with 
them.)  At  the  first  pro-synod  afterward,  Ulrich  referred 
to  Lavater's  address  somewhat  sarcastically,  as  if  he 
would  cut  off  its  influence,  by  saying  that  it  had  been 
suggested  that  an  inquisition  be  erected  at  Zurich  to  deal 
with  foreign  theologians.  And  in  his  synodal  address 
he  spoke  against  Lavater,  saying,  "The  apostles  did  not 
shut  out  from  their  company  or  their  love  an  errorist 
who  was  only  theoretical.  They  surrounded  all  who 
honored  Christ  with  brotherly  hearts  and  had  patience 
with  those  who  were  weak  in  the  faith."  Lavater  later 
defended  himself  before  the  synod  in  a  parable:  "In 
a  gathering  of  shepherds,  one  of  them  warned  against 
dangerous  wolves,  but  the  gathering  of  shepherds  replied, 
'The  matter  does  not  belong  here.'  "  Thus  the  lines  were 
being  drawn  between  the  rationalists  and  Lavator.  In 
1780  Lavater  again  delivered  an  address  at  the  synod 
against  Steinbart's  system  of  pure  philosophy,  which 
he  saw  was  becoming  quite  popular  among  the  ministers 
of  the  canton.  He  warned  his  brethren  against  its  emas- 
culating and  undermining  effect  on  the  old  Apostolic 
Christianity. 

But  while  rationalism  had  now  found  in  Lavater  an 
opponent,  orthodoxy  found  in  him  a  friend.  The  old 
Evangelical  doctrines  which  had  been  ridiculed,  perverted 
and  attacked  now  found  in  him  a  champion.  It  rejoiced 
in  this  fact  and  prayed  that  the.  tide  in  the  canton  might 
be  turned  against  liberalism  in  theology.  Lavater,  how- 
ever, for  all  this,  had  to  suffer  much  bitter  persecution. 
Nothing  is  so  illiberal  as  so-called  liberalism  of  thought 


ZURICH  223 

or  doctrine.  It  soon  hardens  in  its  own  moulds  and 
becomes  more  inquisitorial  than  the  old  orthodoxy. 
Lavater's  universal  popularity  waned.  All  Zurich  had 
loved  him  as  the  fearless  patriot,  but  now  the  rationalists 
turned  against  him,  and  they  were  in  control.  One  can 
hardly  have  any  idea  with  what  malice  Hottinger  and 
others  strove  to  shake  Lavater's  rising  fame.  They  cir- 
culated anonymous  works  ridiculing  him.  They  called 
him  pietist  and  Methodist,  hoping  thus  to  scandalize 
him  in  the  eyes  of  the  people.  But  their  efforts  only 
added  to  his  fame  and  influence,  while  their  attacks 
recoiled  on  themselves.  His  genius  had  become  too  well 
recognized  for  them  to  destroy  its  influence,  and  the 
singular  purity  of  his  character  made  it  impossible  for 
them  to  undermine  him.  He  stood  out  not  only  as  one 
of  the  greatest  men  of  his  time,  but  over  against  these 
rationalists  as  one  of  the  ablest  defenders  of  Evangelical 
Christianity.  This  was  the  more  noticeable,  as  the  de- 
fenders of  orthodoxy  at  that  time  could  be  counted  on 
the  finger  of  one's  hand,  Haman,  Claudius,  Stilling — 
and  Lavater. 

He  now  began  his  able  defence  of  Christianity.  Be- 
tween 1782  and  1785  he  published  his  "Pontius  Pilate,  or 
a  Universal  Ecce  Homo,"  which  is  a  severe  arraignment 
of  rationalism.  It  produced  a  great  sensation.  The 
reason  for  his  writing  it  was  a  remark  in  a  letter  of 
Hainan's  to  him,  "To  me  an  ignorant  one,  Pontius  Pilate, 
is  the  wisest  author  and  darkest  prophet  and  the  executor 
of  the  New  Testament."  Lavater  made  Pilate's  ques- 
tion, "What  is  truth?"  the  basis  of  his  work  and  the  type 
of  prevailing  rationalism.  He  claimed  that  the  doctrines 
of  the  New  Testament  cleared  the  mind  better  than  the 
distortions  of  rationalists.  He  knew  the  book  would  give 
offence  even  to  some  of  his  dearest  friends,  and  it  did, 
for  it  cost  him  the  friendship  of  Goethe.  Hottinger, 
who  had  been  one  of  his  greatest   friends,  in  a  book 


224  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

written  in  1775,  scoffed  at  Lavater's  incredulity  in  regard 
to  prayer. 

But  Lavater  did  not  stop  there.  He  published  an- 
other apologetical  work  (1786),  "Nathaniel,  or  the  Di- 
vinity of  Christianity."  In  it  he  clamed  that  Christianity 
could  not  be  proved,  but  must  be  felt.  It  was  not  so 
strong  a  work  as  "Pilate."  This  work,  however,  had 
great  interest  attached  to  it  because  at  first  he  dedicated 
it  anonymously  to  his  friend  Goethe.  In  it  he  produces 
an  array  of  witnesses  from  the  Bible  for  the  divinity 
of  Christ,  of  whom  each  had  an  element  of  truth  in  his 
faith.  This  act  of  Lavater's  alienated  Goethe  from  him, 
who  called  it  an  excommunicating,  intolerable  book. 
Lavater  was  sad.  And  yet  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at. 
Goethe  was  not  a  Christian;  Lavater  was.  To  religious 
earnestness  Goethe  was  an  absolute  stranger.  He  could 
not  understand  it.  Lavater  met  him  afterwards  at 
Weimar,  but  found  him  cold,  and  Goethe  afterwards 
visited  Zurich,  but  passed  Lavater  by.  The  prophets  of 
rationalism  at  Berlin  and  the  supernatural  rationalists, 
like  Spalding,  Jerusalem,  Zollikofer  and  others,  rose 
against  him.  But,  to  his  honor,  he  was  unmoved  by  their 
opposition,  which  only  deepened  his  piety  and  strength- 
ened him  as  an  apologist. 

But,  though  he  lost  the  friendship  of  unbelievers,  he 
gained  tremendous  influence  among  earnest  Christians. 
His  correspondence  became  voluminous.  On  one  occa- 
sion more  than  500  letters  lay  beside  him,  awaiting  an 
answer.  In  1786  Bremen  called  him  to  the  St.  Ansgari 
Church.  He  declined  the  call,  but  got  them  several  pas- 
tors, as  Haseli,  and  continued  in  correspondence  with 
them.  He  also  went  to  Bremen  to  express  his  thanks 
to  them  for  the  call,  and  also  to  Goettingen  to  take  h. 
son  to  the  university.  Everywhere  he  was  loaded  with 
honors  and  given  great  attention.  His  trip  proved  a 
veritable  triumphal  entry.    In  the  hotels  crowds  of  people 


ZURICH  225 

waited  to  see  him  and  speak  with  him.  At  Bremen  a 
new  ship  was  named  after  him,  and  great  crowds  fol- 
lowed him  wherever  he  visited  in  the  city.  At  Berlin, 
where  he  preached,  the  streets  were  filled  with  people, 
who  could  not  get  into  the  church.  The  same  year  that 
he  declined  the  call  to  Bremen,  he  was  called  to  be  the 
first  pastor  of  the  St.  Peter's  Church  at  Zurich,  and  his 
bosom  friend,  Pfenninger,  was  made  assistant  pastor. 
In  1793  he  went  through  Germany  to  visit  the  Copen- 
hagen Seers,  who  expected  Christ's  coming,  for  Lavater 
was  a  pre-millenarian,  though  he  did  not  exaggerate 
the  importance  of  that  doctrine,  as  they  did.  But  the 
light  in  the  north  they  expected  did  not  materialize. 
Christ  did  not  come,  but  the  French  Revolution  came  to 
stir  up  Europe  to  a  new  era. 

Many  prominent  persons  visited  Lavater  at  Zurich, 
as  the  Duke  of  Wurtemberg,  the  Margrave  of  Baden,  the 
Emperor  of  Russia  and  the  Duke  of  Kent.  In  1794  pul- 
monary trouble  again  appeared,  but  he  continued  his 
work.  Then  came  the  era  of  his  political  influence.  His 
"Swiss  Songs"  had  revealed  his  patriotism,  and  he  now 
stands  forth  as  the  great  patriot  of  Switzerland.  At 
first  he  sympathized  with  the  French  Revolution.  But 
when  he  saw  the  awful  extreme  to  which  it  went,  he 
recognized  it  as  the  worst  kind  of  slavery — the  slavery 
of  lawlessness.  And  when  he  saw  that  France  was  try- 
ing to  gain  control  of  Switzerland,  he  opposed  all  such 
efforts.  The  Helvetic  republic,  he  felt,  was  not  Swiss, 
but  French,  and  was  utilized  by  France  to  plunder 
Switzerland  by  collecting  the  taxes,  often  at  the  point 
of  the  bayonet.  Liberty  in  such  a  republic  was  a  tyranny. 
Swiss  who  would  bow  to  France,  even  the  lowest  villains, 
were  made  high  officials  of  the  republic.  Its  capital 
was  placed  at  Aarau.  The  Swiss  bowed  to  its  yoke,  but 
Lavater  did  not.  He  who  had  before  opposed  slavery  in 
all    forms,  whether  intellectual  or  political,   opposed   it 

15 


226  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

now.  Freedom  so  filled  his  soul  that  he  could  not  keep 
quiet.  Of  all  the  Swiss,  he  was  almost  the  only  one 
who  dared  lift  his  voice  against  the  directory  of  the 
Helvetic  republic,  although  Rev.  David  Muslin,  of  Bern, 
was  another  but  less  prominent.  Lavater  was  the 
William  Tell  of  the  eighteenth  century,  the  modern 
Zwingli,  for,  like  Zwingli,  he  did  not  consider  himself 
freed  by  his  pastoral  office  from  any  of  his  duties  as  a 
citizen.  He  showed  his  patriotism  by  publishing  "The 
Word  of  a  Free  Swiss  to  a  Great  Nation  in  the  First 
Year  of  the  Swiss  Slavery,"  May  10,  1798.  In  it  he 
appealed  to  the  French  for  the  liberty  of  Switzerland: 
"Great  nation,  which  hast  not  an  equal,  render  not  thy- 
self contemptible  to  all  posterity.  Be  no  longer  the 
scourge  of  the  nations,  the  tyrant  over  mankind,  the 
enslaver  of  the  free.  Be  what  thou  wouldst  be  thought 
to  be,  the  deliverer,  the  benefactress,  the  friend  and  then 
queen  of  our  hearts."  He  addressed  the  publication  in 
his  name  to  Reubel,  one  of  the  directors  of  the  Helvetic 
republic.  He  pled  for  the  rights  of  the  Swiss.  He 
threatened  that  if  they  were  not  granted  he  would  scatter 
his  work  in  the  various  languages  throughout  Europe 
and  appeal  to  the  world  for  vindication,  so  that  all  might 
see  the  injustice  of  the  French.  After  he  had  published 
it,  he  said  to  his  son-in-law,  "I  have  written  to  Reubel, 
and  I  unhesitatingly  told  him  the  entire  truth  with  regard 
to  the  odious  conduct  of  his  country  to  ours.  I  quietly 
wait  the  result.  I  have  done  my  duty.  They  may  perse- 
cute me  and  even  proceed  to  acts  of  violence.  No 
matter.  I  shall  not  regret  what  I  have  done."  The 
rulers  at  first  proposed  to  stop  the  circulation  of  the 
work.  But  they  did  not  do  so,  and  one  hundred  thousand 
copies  were  scattered  through  Switzerland  and  in  other 
countries  of  Europe. 

In  April   ten  of  the  most   respectable  and  honored 
citizens   of   Zurich   were   arrested   and   carried   away   as 


ZURICH  227 

criminals,  charged  with  being  traitors  to  France  by  cor- 
responding with  Austria.  On  the  following  Sunday 
Lavater  dared  to  lift  up  his  voice  in  protest  against  this 
outrage  in  a  sermon  on  the  duties  of  rulers.  His  text 
was  Romans  13:1-4,  and  his  topic  "Subjection  to  the 
Higher  Powers."     He  said  : 

"Can  anything  be  imagined  more  shameful  and  de- 
grading to  a  government,  more  dishonorable  to  the  names 
of  justice  and  liberty  than  that  the  innocent  should  be 
treated  like  the  guilty,  the  righteous  like  the  wicked? 
When  those  who  do  good  must  fear  because  they  do 
good,  who  will  not  shudder,  who  will  not  exclaim,  'Ac- 
cursed be  that  policy  which  will  do  evil  that  good  may 
come  of  it'?" 

The  sermon  produced  a  profound  impression.  His 
wife,  deeply  affected,  said  to  him  on  his  return  from 
church,  "You  will  be  arrested  for  that  sermon."  And 
everyone  expected  it.  The  manuscript  of  the  sermon  was 
demanded  by  the  government  and  the  Directory  had  de- 
cided on  his  banishment ;  but  it  was  not  carried  out,  as 
they  feared  the  people.  Still  they  kept  a  close  watch  on 
him,  waiting  for  an  opportunity. 

The  opportunity  came.  In  May,  1799,  he  went  to 
Baden,  near  Zurich,  for  his  rheumatism.  The  night 
after  his  departure  his  house  was  broken  into  at  mid- 
night and  his  papers  examined.  They  found  a  letter 
from  Russia  and  trumiped  up  a  charge  that  he  was  hold- 
ing a  treasonable  correspondence  with  the  Russians.  On 
the  second  day  after  his  arrival  at  Baden  (May  16),  after 
he  had  spent  a  night  of  excruciating  agony  from  his 
disease,  three  municipal  officers  called  and  in  the  name 
of  the  Helvetic  republic  demanded  his  papers  and  or- 
dered him  to  go  with  them.  As  the  soldiers  were  hurry- 
ing such  a  sick  man  away,  his  weeping  wife  swooned. 
Lavater,  praying,  commended  himself  and  his  dear  wife 
to  God.  Strange  to  say,  he  began  feeling  better  physically 
— the  excitement  of  the  arrest  seemed  to  arouse  him.    He 


228  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

endeavored  to  make  the  best  of  it.  Guarded  as  he  was  by 
dragoons  and  grenadiers,  he  said,  "I  have  never  travelled 
in  such  an  aristocratic  style  before.  His  arrest  cause  tre- 
mendous excitement.  All  Zurich  was  in  an  uproar.  He 
was  taken  to  Basle  for  trial.  There  he  easily  proved  his 
innocence,  so  that  by  June  10  he  was  released.  After  a  very 
uneasy  night,  because  of  violent  attacks  of  coughing,  the 
city  officer  entered  his  apartment,  saying,  "I  have  here 
brought  you  something  that  will  cure  your  cough,"  and 
gave  him  his  order  for  freedom.  The  next  day  he  started 
for  Zurich,  but  it  was  two  months  before  he  got  there, 
for  the  French  and  Austrian  armies  were  occupying  the 
intervening  territory.  He  got  part  way,  but  had  to  return 
to  Basle.  After  three  weeks,  through  the  shrewdness 
of  a  noble  lady,  who  gained  permission  to  visit  friends 
beyond  the  French  lines  in  the  county  of  Baden,  he  suc- 
ceeded in  escaping  by  going  with  her.  And  on  August 
16,  after  three  months'  absence,  he  was  again  in  Zurich. 
The  news  of  his  return  spread  like  wild-fire.  On  the 
next  Sunday  he  preached  to  an  enormous  audience,  who 
crowded  his  church.  He  took  for  his  text,  "What  shall 
we  do?" 

But  new  dangers  came  to  Zurich  and  himself.  On 
September  25-26,  1799,  the  French  fought  a  battle  with 
the  allies  near  Zurich  and  captured  the  city.  As  the 
citizens  of  Zurich  were  known  to  sympathize  with  the 
enemies  of  France,  they  were  in  great  fear,  and  most 
of  them  closed  their  houses,  expecting  to  be  plundered. 
It  was  in  this  occupation  of  Zurich  by  the  French  that 
Lavater  was  shot,  September  26,  1799.  Lavater  himself 
gives  the  following  account  of  this: 

"After  the  French  had  entered  Zurich  as  conquerors, 
many  of  the  soldiers  rambled  in  small  parties  or  singly 
about  the  town.  Two  of  these  came  to  the  door  of  a 
house,  in  which  only  two  females  resided,  in  an  open 
place  near  the  Church  of  St.  Peter,  contiguous  to  the 
residence  of  Lavater,  and  began  to  cry:  'Wine,  wine, 


ZURICH 


229 


this  a  public  house,"  at  the  same  time  beating  the  door 
with  the  butt  ends  of  their  muskets  to  burst  it  open. 
Lavater  looked  out  of  his  window  and  said  to  them : 
'Be  quiet  and  I  will  bring  you  wine.'  He  accordingly 
brought  them  some  bread,  and  even  offered  them  money, 
which,  however,  they  would  not  accept.  Being  thus 
pacified  they  went  away.  One  of  them  especially,  a 
grenadier,  expressed  his  gratitude  and  friendship  in  the 
warmest  terms.  Lavater  then  returned  to  his  house, 
where  his  wife  accosted  him  with :  'What !  has  my  Daniel 
come  safe  out  of  the  lions'  den.'  He  then  sent  a  person 
to  see  whether  the  streets  were  sufficiently  clear  for  him 
to  go  to  the  house  of  one  of  his  children  to  inquire  after 
the  safety  of  the  family,  which  he  had  been  prevented 
from  doing  by  the  number  of  troops  passing  through 
the  city.  While  he  stood  at  his  door  waiting  for  the 
return  of  his  messenger,  a  little  French  soldier  came  up 
to  him  and  told  him  in  broken  German  that  he  had  been 
taken  prisoner  by  the  Russians  and  had  no  shirt.  Lavater 
answered  that  he  had  no  shirt  to  give  him,  but  at  the 
same  time  took  out  of  his  pocket  some  small  money 
which  he  offered  him.  The  fellow  looked  at  it  con- 
temptuously and  said,  'I  must  have  a  whole  dollar  for 
a  shirt.'  Lavater  then  offered  him  a  few  more  small 
pieces,  but  he  still  insisted  he  must  have  a  dollar,  and 
drew  his  sword  to  enforce  his  demand.  The  other  sol- 
diers whom  Lavater  had  helped,  and  who  had  parted 
from  him  in  so  friendly  a  manner,  were  standing  at  some 
little  distance,  and  he  called  to  them  for  protection  against 
the  violence  of  this  man.  They  came  to  him,  but,  to 
his  great  surprise,  the  very  man  who,  two  minutes  be- 
fore, had  refused  money  when  he  offered  it  to  him, 
now  joined  in  the  demand  of  his  comrade,  and  putting 
his  bayonet  to  Lavater's  breast,  cried  out  more  fiercely 
than  the  other,  'Give  us  money.'  Lavater  and  some  per- 
son who  stood  near  him  put  aside  the  bayonet,  and 
another  person,  at  that  time  a  stranger  to  him,  threw 
his  arm  round  him  and  drew  him  back.  At  the  same 
moment  the  grenadier  fired,  and  the  ball  passed  through 
the  arm  of  the  stranger  and  wounded  Lavater  below  the 
breast.  He  bled  profusely,  and  when  his  wound  was 
examined,  it  was  found  that  the  ball  had  entered  the 
right  side  and  passed  out  at  the  distance  of  about  four 


230  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

inches  on  the  left,  a  little  above  the  ribs,  having  ap- 
proached extremely  near  to  parts  which,  if  pierced,  would 
have  proved  instantly  fatal."  This  shooting  of  Lavater 
reminds  one  of  a  prophetic  sentence  he  uttered  seven- 
teen years  before.  In  1782,  while  yet  an  assistant  at 
St.  Peter's,  he  attended  an  evening  gathering.  As  he 
took  up  the  goblet  before  him,  a  gentleman  remarked, 
'This  goblet  bears  the  name  of  Fuessli,  a  predecessor  of 
yours  as  assistant  in  1684,  who  was  shot  by  his  brother- 
in-law.'  Lavater  was  silent  for  a  long  time,  and  then 
said,  'It  is  strange  that  this  cup  should  be  placed  be- 
fore me.  I  believe  that  I  will  die  from  the  effects  of  a 
shot.'  When  his  friend  asked  him  what  he  meant,  he 
replied,  'Always  when  I  sit  in  my  pulpit  seat  and  look 
toward  the  end  of  the  church,  I  imagine  I  see  a  man  who 
would  like  to  shoot  me.' 

His  wounding  caused  a  great  deal  of  excitement  at 
Zurich.  He  was  carried  into  a  neighbor's  house,  where 
the  physician  spoke  hopefully  of  his  case.  Although  in 
severest  pain,  he  yet  expressed  his  profoundest  sympa- 
thy for  the  man  who  shot  him.  He  asked  that  no  one 
would  ask  the  name  of  the  soldier,  as  he  did  not  wish 
him  to  be  punished.  He  said,  "I  would  rather  suffer 
much  than  that  he  should  suffer."  Very  beautiful  was 
his  spirit  of  forgiveness,  as  he  said  in  his  agony,  "O, 
that  God  would  answer  my  prayer  that  he  may  never 
suffer  as  I  do."  Among  his  verses  were  found  some  to 
the  soldier  who  shot  him,  praying  that  he  might  see  him 
before  the  throne  of  God.  But  the  identity  of  the  sol- 
dier was  never  discovered.  By  Sunday,  September  29, 
he  was  strong  enough  to  dictate  a  letter.  But  he  was 
never  to  get  well.  That  wound  ultimately  proved  fatal, 
though  he  lingered  long.  He  grew  better,  and  by  De- 
cember, he  was  able  to  leave  his  bed.  He  preached  his 
first  sermon  on  "Let  my  mouth  be  filled  with  praise  and 
with  Thine  honor  all  the  day."  At  its  conclusion,  he 
said,  "Every  new  pain  which  my  wounds  produce 
shall  be  to  me  a  call  to  new  life  and  to  new  fidelity  and 


ZURICH  231 

love  in  the  footsteps  of  Him  whose  unutterable  love  and 
indescribable  pains  on  the  cross  so  far  exceed  mine." 
For  six  weeks  he  was  able  to  preach  and  attend  to  his 
pastoral  duties. 

But  by  the  end  of  January,  1800,  his  pain  came  back, 
together  with  his  cough.  He  tried  the  baths  at  Baden 
and  at  Schinznach  and,  finally,  Erlenbach.  Here  he 
wrote  his  last  work,  which  he  entitled  his  "Swan-Song, 
or  Last  Thoughts  of  a  Departing  Soul  on  Jesus  of  Naza- 
reth," but  Providence  did  not  permit  him  to  finish  it.  In 
September  he  returned  to  Zurich.  On  September  14, 
the  time  for  the  fall  communion,  he  had  himself  car- 
ried to  his  beloved  church  to  partake  of  the  elements  of 
his  Saviour's  love  for  the  last  time.  At  the  close  of 
the  services  his  assistant  conducted  him  before  the  con- 
gregation, and  he  spoke  a  few  words  to  them  on  the  text, 
"With  desire  have  I  desired  to  eat  this  passover  with 
you  before  I  suffer."  This  proved  to  be  his  farewell 
address.  He  appeared  to  his  people  like  John  of  old, 
as  if  leaning  on  the  Master's  bosom.  At  his  words  his 
congregation  melted  into  tears. 

From  that  hour  he  became  weaker.  His  pain  would 
often  cause  him  to  moan,  and  his  cough  racked  him  to 
pieces.  Still,  he  would  not  be  unemployed,  but  util- 
ized every  moment,  either  in  reading  his  Bible  or  in  dic- 
tating to  his  amanuensis.  He  composed  a  prayer-book 
for  sufferers.  He  continued  gradually  improving  until 
New  Year  of  1801.  Just  before  New  Year  he  was  able 
to  dictate  a  New  Year's  wish  to  his  congregation.  As 
the  New  Year  came  in  he  heard  some  one  singing  out- 
side, "The  year  is  begun  and  who  will  see  it  close."  He 
said,  "Pray,  pray,  pray."  These  were  his  last  words, 
for  he  became  unable  to  say  more,  and,  on  January  2, 
1801,  he  passed  to  his  reward,  after  a  year  and  a  quarter 


232 


THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 


of  suffering,  much  of  it  in  excruciating  pains. 

Thus  died  a  religious  genius  of  the  first  rank.  When 
Goethe  called  him  the  Prophet  or  Apostle  of  Zurich,  he 
spoke  the  truth.  He  was  the  greatest  and  most  brilliant 
man  who  had  appeared  there  at  least  for  a  century  and  a 
half. 

Lavater  was  great  in  many  ways.  But  his  great- 
ness was  not  noted  at  Zurich  during  his  lifetime.  It  was 
not  until  Hegner  published  his  correspondence  with  fa- 
mous persons,  about  a  quarter  of  a  century  later,  that 
Zurich  really  woke  up  to  know  what  a  genius  she  had 
produced.  He  had  been  held  by  many  in  Zurich  as  a 
fanatic.  And  while  we  defend  him  against  the  ration- 
alists on  this  charge,  yet  he  had  certain  eccentricities 
that  laid  him  somewhat  open  to  criticism.  He  was  a 
pre-millenarian  when  that  doctrine  was  looked  upon 
with  suspicion.  He  believed  in  faith-healing  and  won- 
der-working. He  was  criticised  for  his  investigations 
into  magic  and  physiognomy,  and  was  inclined  to  believe 
in  inspirationism  or  the  seeing  of  visions.  But,  in  spite 
of  all  this,  his  was  a  great  mind.  His  brilliant  phantasy, 
as  Professor  von  Schulthess-Rechberg  said  to  the  writer, 
is  quite  the  opposite  of  the  plain,  simple  Swiss;  and  it 
is  strange  that  Zurich  should  have  produced  such  a 
type  of  genius. 

He  was  great  as  a  poet — a  born  poet — a  master  of 
unsurpassed  poetry.  His  "Swiss  Hymns"  made  him  fa- 
mous. He  also  wrote  other  poems.  In  imitation  of 
Klopstock,  he  wrote  a  "Messiade,"  a  paraphrase  of  Reve- 
lations (1783-86),  and  another  poem  on  the  Gospels 
and  Acts,  paraphrased  in  epic  verse,  which  reminds  one 
of  Herder.  He  labored  long  at  a  philosophical  poem  on 
eternal  life.  But,  perhaps,  he  realized  that  poetry  and 
philosophy  could  not  be  united  (for  philosophy,  with  its 


ZURICH  233 

depth  and  delicate  shadings,  needs  the  freedom  of  prose 
composition,  while  poetry,  on  the  other  hand,  needs  to 
rise  to  flights  of  imagination  which  philosophy  would 
chill)  ;  so,  instead,  he  published  his  "Views  Into  Eter- 
nity." He  wrote  many  hymns,  700  of  them,  for  he  was  a 
singer  of  divine  love.  "Poetry,"  he  once  wrote  to  Felix 
Hess,  "is  to  me  nothing  but  feeling  after  God.  He  is 
my  poet-art."  Lange,  one  of  the  most  competent  of 
German  hymn  critics,  says  of  his  hymns:  "They  have 
the  mark  of  rhetorical  diction,  but  the  spiritual  orator 
often  disturbs  the  poet."  Perhaps  his  finest  hymn  is  his 
sanctification  hymn,  which  has  been  translated  into 
English : 

O  Jesus  Christ,  grow  Thou  in  me, 

And  all  things  else  recede; 
My  heart  be  daily  nearer  Thee, 

From  sin  be  daily  freed. 

Each  day  let  Thy  supporting  might 

My  weakness  still  embrace, 
My  darkness  vanish  in  Thy  light, 

Thy  life  my  death  efface. 

In  Thy  light-beams,  which  on  me  fall, 

Fade  every  evil  thought, 
That  I  am  nothing,  Thou  art  all, 

I  would  be  daily  taught. 

Make  this  poor  self  grow  less  and  less, 

Be  Thou  my  life  and  aim; 
O,  make  me  daily  through  Thy  grace 

More  worthy  of  Thy  name. 

Let  faith  in  Thee  and  in  Thy  might 

My  every  motion  move. 
Be  Thou  alone  my  soul's  delight, 

My  passion  and  my  love. 

Lavater  was  also  prominent  as  a  physiognomist — vir- 
tually its  founder — for  he  was  the  first  to  reduce  its 
vagaries  to  a  system  and  elevate  it  to  a  science.     What- 


234  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

ever  may  be  the  judgment  of  to-day  as  to  this  science, 
certain  it  is  that  Lavater  had  a  wonderful  insight  into 
character  as  revealed  in  the  face.  Several  remarkable 
stories  are  told  of  his  recognition  of  eminent  persons  by 
their  physiognomy.  He  published  four  large  volumes, 
"Physiognomic  Fragments,"  i/75"78-  These  were 
crowded  with  innumerable  portraits  and  silhouettes  of 
celebrated  persons.  It  was  a  wonderful  collection,  on 
which  he  spent  his  income  and  his  life,  hoping  it  would 
be  a  great  contribution  to  the  welfare  of  mankind.  As 
these  volumes  appeared,  Goethe,  Herder,  Wieland  and 
Jacobi  went  into  raptures  over  them. 

But  it  is  as  a  Christian  that  Lavater  measures  up.  He 
was  a  great  pulpit  orator.  His  face  in  itself  was  at  once 
sufficient  to  attract  attention.  Stilling  once  said,  "La- 
vater's  evangelist-John  face  rent  all  hearts  in  awe  and 
love."  There  was  a  peculiar  subtle  charm  in  his  look. 
His  poetic  nature  made  his  sermons  very  beautiful  with 
bright  flights  of  fancy,  and  his  face  and  eye  held  his 
hearers  spell-bound.  But  he  laid  no  stress  on  his  ora- 
tory, for  he  wanted  to  be  a  witness  for  God  rather  than 
a  mere  orator.  The  most  popular  of  his  printed  ser- 
mons were  those  on  Jonah  and  Philemon,  but  although 
they  are  suggestive  in  thought  and  full  of  unction,  the 
printed  page  fails  to  give  the  peculiar  power  of  his  per- 
sonality. He  was  also  an  unwearied  pastor,  caring  con- 
scientiously for  the  spiritual  interests  of  his  people. 
Thus,  on  a  damp,  foggy  night,  in  1785,  he  spent  the 
whole  night  in  searching  for  a  sick  man,  who  had  es- 
caped from  his  home.  As  the  great  men,  as  Goethe  and 
Herder,  withdrew  themselves  from  him,  he  comforted 
himself  the  more  in  the  care  of  his  Christian  people. 

But  back  of  the  preacher  and  the  pastor  was  the 
unique  personality  of  the  man.  Goethe  called  him  "an 
individual,  the  like  of  which  one  has  not  yet  seen,  and 
will   not   see   again."     When    Hottinger   so  bitterly   at- 


ZURICH  235 

tacked  him,  Bodmer  remarked  that  if  any  one  sought  to 
gain  such  influence  as  Lavater,  he  must  be  as  unblam- 
able as  he.  Haym,  in  his  life  of  Herder,  says  that 
"Herder  felt  himself  lower  than  Lavater  on  one  point, 
the  inner  purity  of  childlike  faith,  the  knowledge  and 
devotion  to  God."  One  of  his  most  important  works 
was  his  "Diary,"  which  reveals  the  great  spirituality  of 
the  man.  From  his  earliest  youth  he  had  been  accus- 
tomed to  make  the  closest  self-examination.  These  he 
wrote  in  his  "Diary"  without  ever  a  thought  that  they 
would  be  published.  But,  through  a  friend,  it  fell  into 
the  hands  of  Zollikofer,  of  Leipsic,  who  published  it 
anonymously,  without  Lavater's  knowledge.  When  La- 
vater found  that  it  had  attained  so  large  a  circulation 
and  had  proved  so  helpful  to  Christians,  he  allowed  a 
second  volume  to  be  published. 

Doctrinally  he  was  Evangelical,  but  not  after  the  type 
of  the  older  Calvinistic  orthodoxy.  He  was  too  free  a 
mind  to  be  bound  by  any  one  else's  system  of  theology. 
He  said,  "I  do  not  believe  as  Calvin  or  Athanasius,  be- 
cause I  see  no  ground  to  hold  these  men  for  divine 
authority."  For  his  strong  Evangelical  views,  he  was 
called  by  his  enemies  a  pietist.  But  he  never  was  a 
pietist  in  the  narrow  sense  as  was  Yung-Stilling.  And 
yet  while  he  was  Evangelical  in  his  views,  there  was  a 
freedom  about  them.  Freedom  had  always  been  his 
ideal,  freedom  of  thought,  of  speech  and  of  action.  But 
he  thought  the  highest  freedom  was  in  the  Bible.  He 
never,  however,  got  over  his  rationalistic  training,  which 
had  prejudiced  him  against  the  old  statements  of  ortho- 
doxy and  its  metaphysical  distinctions.  Thus  he  never 
used  the  theological  terms  of  the  trinity  or  the  divinity 
of  Christ.  But  though  he  never  used  them,  he  fully 
believed  what  was  meant  by  them.  He  said,  "Christ  is 
our  Lord  and  God."  His  Christology  was  that  "Christ 
was  all  in  all,"— that  "God  without  Him  is  to  us  nothing 


236  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

and  in  him  the  Father  entire  is  given  to  us."  He  wanted 
a  Pauline  or  Johannean  Christ  rather  than  an  Athan- 
asian.  The  divinity  of  Christ  was  to  him  not  a  specula- 
tive doctrine,  but  a  matter  of  the  heart.  "I  have  myself 
experienced  that  this  Jesus  is  the  Saviour  of  the  world 
and  my  Saviour,  for  as  a  man  I  have  spoken  to  Him  and 
as  a  God  and  man  He  answered  me."  In  his  emphasis 
on  experience  as  the  source  of  theology  he  was  the  fore- 
runner of  Schleiermacher. 

But  he  was  not  a  theologian, — his  bent  of  mind  was 
different  from  that.  He  was  not  logical  in  his  system, — 
he  was  one  of  those  brilliant  geniuses  who  shoot  off  in 
all  directions  and  so  though  Evangelical  at  heart,  yet 
often  use  expressions  far  from  it.  Doctrinally  his  cen- 
ter was  Christ,  but  a  cosmical  as  well  as  a  spiritual 
Christ.  His  emphasis  was  on  Christ's  life  to  us  rather 
than  his  death  for  us.  To  him  religion  was  more  a 
life  than  a  doctrine.  He  emphasized  the  vital  and  mys- 
tical in  piety. 

Section  5 

antistes  john  jacob  hess  (1795-1828) 

Never  since  the  Thirty  Years'  War  (1648)  was 
Switzerland  so  critically  situated  as  during  the  French 
occupation,  at  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century.  For- 
tunately as  a  Breitinger  had  been  raised  up  to  guide  the 
church  through  its  troublous  times  of  the  Thirty  Years' 
War,  a  Hess  is  now  raised  up.  For  a  century  and  a  half 
Zurich  had  had  no  antistes  of  the  first  rank.  Hess 
brought  it  back  to  the  splendid  lustre  of  the  days  of 
Zwingli  and  Bullinger.  And  his  election  was  also  sig- 
nificant of  another  thing.  It  signalized  the  return  of 
the  canton  from  rationalism  to  orthodoxy.  When  Ul- 
rich  died,  rationalism  had  no  candidate  of  sufficient 
ability  and  influence  to  propose.     Rationalism  had  run 


ZURICH 


237 


to  seed  as  it  always  does.  There  were  only  two  men, 
whose  ability  and  fame  made  them  conspicuous  for  the 
election,  Lavater  and  Hess,  and  they  were  both  Evan- 
gelical. Each  had  been  the  life-long  friend  of  the  other. 
Both  were  nominated.  But  when  Hess  was  elected, 
Lavater  was  the  first  to  congratulate  him,  and  wish  God's 
blessing  on  his  work.  It  was  probably  best  for  Zurich 
that  the  election  turned  out  as  it  did.  Lavater  was  with- 
out doubt  the  greater  genius,  but  too  fiery  to  have  guided 
Zurich  through  the  difficult  period  of  the  French  Revo- 
lution. Hess,  though  not  a  genius,  was  yet  a  fine  scholar 
and  excellent  executive  and  was  possessed  of  remarkable 
prudence.  And  if  Lavater  was  a  genius,  Hess  was  a 
genius  of  common  sense.  Besides  Lavater's  death,  had 
he  been  antistes,  would  have  left  the  church  without  a 
head,  just  at  its  most  critical  time.  It  was  also  best  for 
Lavater  as  well  as  for  Zurich  that  he  did  not  become 
antistes,  for  the  executive  duties  of  the  position  of  an- 
tistes would  have  interfered  with  the  freedom  of  Lava- 
ter's splendid  pulpit  and  literary  activities. 

Hess  was  born  October  21,  1741.  As  his  mother 
died  when  he  was  quite  young,  he  was  given  to  an 
uncle  near  Zurich,  to  rear.  His  boyhood  gave  little 
promise  of  future  greatness.  Nor  did  any  remarkable 
religious  tendencies  reveal  themselves  as  in  Lavater's 
early  life.  An  anecdote,  quite  the  opposite  of  those  of 
Lavater's  boyhood,  is  related  of  Hess, — that  while  visit- 
ing a  country  pastor,  he  fell  asleep  in  the  church.  He 
did  not  waken  till  the  service  was  over  and  all  had  gone 
out  of  church  and  it  had  been  locked.  Greatly  frightened, 
he  finally  got  out  at  a  side-door,  which  had  been  by 
chance  left  unlocked.  But  this  event  effectually  cured 
him  of  ever  again  sleeping  in  church. 

He  attended  the  schools  at  Zurich,  and  his  uncle, 
who  was  an  Evangelical  pastor,  was  deeply  anxious  lest 
he   be   led   astray   by   the   rationalism   of   his   teachers, 


238  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

Bodmer  and  Breitinger.  At  the  close  of  his  studies 
(1760)  most  fortunately  for  himself  he  became  his 
uncle's  assistant  for  seven  years.  There  he  learned 
more  than  if  he  had  gone  abroad  to  study.  It  was  this 
uncle  who  had  guided  him  in  study  who  now  awakened 
him  to  Evangelical  seriousness.  Several  things  occurred 
there  to  develop  his  serious  nature.  An  event  occurred 
that  deeply  solemnized  him.  A  boy,  whom  he  met  along 
the  road,  tried  to  persuade  him  to  get  on  his  horse  with 
him  and  take  the  shortest  way  across  the  river  Toess. 
He  refused,  and  took  the  longer  way  around,  over  the 
bridge  on  foot.  What  was  his  surprise  and  horror  to 
see  both  rider  and  horse  drowned  before  his  eyes.  He 
trembled  as  he  thought  how  near  to  death  he  had  been. 
Another  influence  was  a  visit  of  Klopstock  to  his  uncle. 
Klopstock  read  part  of  his  "Messiah,"  which  made  a  deep 
impression  on  him.  He  then  wrote  an  ode  on  the  death 
of  Moses,  in  1768,  but  he  never  rose  in  poetry  to  the 
height  of  Lavater.  These  events  led  him  more  and  more 
from  the  superficial  rationalism  of  his  teachers  at  Zur- 
ich to  the  deeper  experiences  of  a  religious  life. 

Now  occurs  the  crisis  of  his  life, — he  was  led  to 
begin  to  write  a  book  that  made  him  famous,  for  as 
time  went  on  it  grew  into  a  masterpiece,  the  life  of 
Jesus.  It  seems  that  his  uncle  had  the  habit  of  speak- 
ing at  the  week-day  service  on  the  Gospel  history,  simply, 
but  earnestly, — a  habit  very  uncommon  in  those  ration- 
alistic days.  This  not  merely  interested  the  people  but 
it  also  impressed  his  nephew.  Sometimes  the  appear- 
ance of  a  new  book  rouses  a  genius, — it  did  so  in  his 
case.  Middleton's  "Life  of  Cicero"  fell  into  his  hands 
and  greatly  interested  him,  as  he  was  fond  of  the  classics. 
While  reading  it,  the  thought  flashed  on  his  mind — why 
should  there  not  be  a  life  of  Christ  as  fine  as  that  of 
Cicero,  as  scholarly  and  popular  ?  It  was  a  holy  inspira- 
tion, and  in   1762  he  began  it.     Fortunately,  his  duties 


ZURICH  239 

as  vicar  were  light  and  he  had  ample  time  for  study  and 
literary  work.  He  had  been  a  good  classical  scholar  and 
now  proposed  to  apply  the  methods  of  the  classics  to 
the  study  of  Christ's  life.  But  he  began  at  the  end  of 
Christ's  life,  not  at  its  beginning.  The  first  volume  ap- 
peared in  November,  1767,  and  covered  the  last  part  of 
Christ's  life.  Later  he  gave  up  his  position  as  vicar,  so 
that  he  might  devote  his  entire  time  to  this  work.  He 
continued  working  on  it  until  the  sixth  volume  appeared 
in  1773  and  completed  the  work.  It  at  once  acquired  a 
large  circulation  and  was  translated  into  other  languages, 
as  Dutch  and  Danish.  Even  Catholics  treasured  it. 
Many  years  after,  when  he  was  in  his  eighty-second  year, 
he  remarked  to  a  friend,  "I  have  really  written  only 
one  book,  the  life  of  Christ.  All  my  other  writings 
were  only  preparatory  to  it  or  results  of  it." 

After  leaving  the  vicariate,  he  had  to  wait  ten  years 
for  a  charge,  for  candidates  for  the  ministry  were  many 
and  places  were  few.  But,  though  he  had  long  to  wait, 
he  waited  well.  He  transferred  his  literary  work  to  the 
Old  Testament,  and  wrote  a  "History  of  the  Israelites," 
which  gradually  grew  until  it  filled  twelve  volumes. 
Count  Stolberg  truly  wrote  to  him,  "Your  leisure  brings 
more  fruit  for  eternity  than  the  labors  of  an  appoint- 
ment." Finally,  in  1777,  he  was  made  assistant  of  the 
Fraumunster  Church,  at  Zurich.  This  too  was  a  light 
position  and  gave  him  time  to  continue  his  work  on  the 
Bible.  When  Antistes  Ulrich  died,  in  1795,  he  was, 
contrary  to  his  wishes,  elected  antistes,  for  he  did  not 
want  to  give  up  his  studies  for  the  practical  duties  of 
the  antistesship.  But,  though  mainly  a  student  before,  he 
now  began  to  reveal  great  practical  ability. 

He  became  antistes  at  a  very  critical  moment.  The 
revolutionary  spirit  from  France  had  come  into  Switzer- 
land and  had  lifted  itself  up  against  the  church.  The 
church  laws  were  changed,  indeed  changed  several  times, 


240  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

during  this  period,  and  more  in  the  interest  of  the  state 
than  of  the  church.*  The  consistories,  to  which  the 
Zurich  people  gave  the  name  of  "stillstand"  (because 
they  stand  still  until  the  congregation  have  all  left  the 
church  and  then  close  up  the  church  properly),  were 
almost  all  set  aside,  except  in  the  cities  of  Zurich  and 
Winterthur,  and  the  secular  authorities  took  entire  charge 
of  the  congregations.  The  financial  problems  were  also 
very  serious.  In  1797  and  1799  many  of  the  clergy  re- 
ceived no  salaries,  and  yet  had  to  endure  quarterings 
of  soldiers  upon  them,  which  are  always  expensive.  No 
wonder  the  ministers  often  preached  bitterly  against  the 
oppressors  of  the  Helvetic  republic.  This  often  caused 
trouble,  for  when  a  minister  lost  the  favor  of  the  gov- 
ernment, he  was  dismissed.  In  all  this  Hess  retained  his 
wise  balance  of  judgment  and  counseled  patience  and 
quietness.  And  yet  he  was  not  a  time-server  and  syco- 
phant to  the  masters  of  Switzerland,  but  bravely  stood 
up  for  the  rights  of  the  church.  At  one  time  the  gov- 
ernment had  decided  on  his  deportation,  but  it  was  never 
carried  out.  During  this  period,  to  comfort  the  people, 
he  published  three  volumes  of  sermons,  entitled,  "The 
Christian  in  the  Danger  of  his  Fatherland."  They  were 
bold  and  candid,  yet  so  circumspect  that  not  a  word  in 
them  could  be  attacked  by  his  enemies.  Three  times 
(1798-1801)  he  issued  a  pastoral  letter  to  the  congrega- 
tions, full  of  wise  counsel  and  encouragement. 

Zurich  was  twice  bombarded,  once  in  1799,  when 
Lavater  was  wounded,  and  again  in  1802.  During  the 
latter,  Hess  revealed  his  remarkable  self-poise.  During 
the  bombardment  he  quietly  wrote  his  sermon  for  the 
following  Sunday  just  as  if  nothing  serious  were  taking 
place.  How  different  from  Lavater,  who,  in  the  time 
of  danger,  was  busy  going  about.     Lavater  was  the  Peter, 

*  For  a  description  of  these  changes  see  Finsler's  "Die 
Zurcher  Kirche  zur  Zeit  der  Helvetischen  Republik." 


ZURICH  241 

Hess,  the  John,  of  the  Lord's  disciples  of  that  day. 
Lavater  found  no  rest  except  in  going  hither  and  thither 
until  his  fatal  wound.  Hess,  on  the  other  hand,  quietly 
remained  at  home,  in  religious  contemplation  and  work, 
— a  second  John,  leaning  on  the  bosom  of  his  Lord.  Yet 
both  were  great  men,  each  strong  in  his  own  sphere. 
After  the  fall  of  the  Helvetic  directory  he  prepared  a 
memorial  to  the  state,  which  was  also  signed  by  the 
antistes  of  the  churches  of  Basle  and  St.  Gall,  and  the 
dekans  of  Bern,  Schaffhausen  and  Vaud,  which  took  up 
the  rights  of  the  church.  At  that  time  there  were  two 
political  parties  in  Switzerland,  the  federalists,  who  em- 
phasized the  rights  of  each  state  or  canton,  and  the  cen- 
tralists or  political  unitarians,  who  emphasized  the  central 
power  rather  than  that  of  the  individual  states.  Most  of 
the  ministers  hoped  for  more  from  the  former  party 
than  from  the  latter  and  this  made  the  latter  party  cool 
toward  the  church  and  the  ministry.  In  1803,  Napoleon 
stepped  in  with  the  mediation  government.  This  re- 
sulted in  a  reconstruction  of  the  church-laws,  in  which 
Hess  revealed  remarkable  ability.  Hess  hoped  then  that 
there  would  come  about  a  national  Swiss  church  in  which 
all  the  cantonal  churches  would  be  combined.  But 
nothing  came  out  of  it. 

While  busy  with  these  difficult  political  problems, 
he  did  not  forget  the  internal  administration  of  the 
church.  He  emphasized  the  religious  instruction  of  the 
youth.  His  parsonage  became  the  rallying-place  for  all 
aggressive  evangelical  movement.  A  Bible  student  him- 
self, he  helped  organize  a  Bible  society  at  Zurich,  in 
1800,  four  years  before  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible 
Society  was  organized  in  London.  He  was  made  presi- 
dent (I777-I/95)  of  the  Ascetic  Society,  an  association 
of  ministers,  founded  in  1768.  In  18 19  a  missionary 
society  was  organized. 

A  beautiful  Alpine-glow  was  given  by  providence  to 

16 


242  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

Hess  in  his  old  age.  The  centenary  of  the  Reformation 
came  around  at  Zurich  on  January  i,  1819.  Though  al- 
most eighty  years  of  age,  he  yet  found  himself  strong 
enough  to  participate  in  the  exercises.  He  opened  the 
first  evening  of  this  festival,  on  December  31,  1818,  by  a 
Latin  address,  and  on  the  following  day  he  delivered 
the  principal  sermon,  with  unusual  power,  so  that  it 
seemed  as  if  this  occasion  made  him  young  again.  In 
his  sermon  he  bore  strong  witness  for  the  old  Evangeli- 
cal faith.  In  it  he  appeared  a  "Zwinglius  redivivus"  (a 
Zwingli  resurrected).  Over  against  the  claim  of  the  ra- 
tionalists, who  made  Zwingli  only  a  humanist,  he  proved 
from  the  works  of  Zwingli  and  Pellican  that  the  religious 
element  was  the  most  prominent  and  that  Zwingli  was 
Evangelical.  He  spoke  very  decidedly  against  the  in- 
fidelity that  had  come  in  through  Spinoza  and  Bahrdt  and 
urged  all  to  remain  in  the  old  faith  of  their  fathers.  In 
connection  with  this  religious  anniversary  his  services  to 
theological  science  were  recognized  by  three  foreign  uni- 
versities, Tuebingen,  Jena  and  Copenhagen,  who  gave 
him  the  degree  of  doctor  of  divinity. 

But  this  Reformation  festival  was  destined  to  be  his 
last  great  public  function.  A  few  days  later  he  became 
sick  and  never  again  entered  the  pulpit,  though  he  lived 
nine  years  longer.  Though  bodily  infirmities  increased, 
he  utilized  his  time  in  rewriting  his  "Life  of  Christ"  and 
his  "History  of  the  Apostles."  In  July,  1820,  he  made  his 
last  public  appearance  at  a  meeting  of  the  Bible  society, 
in  the  cathedral,  where  he  presented  the  young  people 
with  Bibles.     Then  he  fell  asleep  in  Christ,  May  29,  1828. 

Hess  was  a  strong  preacher,  though  he  did  not  have 
Lavater's  pulpit  ability.  His  sermons  were  Scriptural, 
largely  practical  and  less  poetical  than  Lavater.  Lavater 
was  rhetorical,  Hess  was  simple,  but  full  of  the  warmth 
of  the  Gospel.  He  exceeded  Lavater  in  the  range  of  his 
Bible  knowledge.     He  was  through  and  through  a  Bible- 


ZURICH  243 

man.  His  standpoint  was  that  the  Bible  was  history 
and  he  endeavored  to  make  it  a  living  history.  He  lived 
in  the  Bible  and  made  the  Bible  live  in  his  books.  His 
total  works  on  the  Bible  number  twenty-three  volumes. 
He  published  some  other  minor  works,  but  it  was  his 
Bible  histories  that  made  him  famous. 

Section  6 
john  henry  pestalozzi 

Pestalozzi  hardly  belongs  to  a  church  history  as  he 
was  the  great  educator  of  Switzerland.  Nevertheless, 
his  religious  views  and  the  effect  of  his  pedagogy  must 
be  reckoned  with  in  the  history  of  the  church.  We  have 
space  here  only  to  briefly  sketch  his  life. 

He  was  born  at  Zurich,  January  12,  1746.  Father- 
less and  awkward,  so  that  he  was  nicknamed  by  his  com- 
panions, "Wonderful  Henry  from  Fooltown,"  he  felt  as 
a  boy  the  insufficiency  of  his  educational  advantages. 
This  lack  gave  him  an  insight  into  the  great  faults  of  the 
education  of  his  day,  and  it  became  his  great  ideal  to 
give  to  other  boys  and  girls  what  he  did  not  have, — a 
thorough  and  suitable  education.  He  at  first  studied  for 
the  ministry,  but  not  succeeding  in  his  first  attempts,  he 
turned  to  law.  Then  Rosseau's  "Emile"  came  into  his 
hands,  and  fired  him  with  enthusiasm  for  education  so 
that  he  gave  up  law.  He  started  a  madder  plantation 
at  Neuhof,  which  failed,  and  so  he  opened  a  school 
there  (1775)  for  poor  children.  For  in  those  days  only 
the  rich  were  sent  to  school  and  not  many  of  them.  His 
school  failed  by  1780,  and  poorer  than  ever  he  turned 
to  literature  and  wrote  his  famous  novel,  "Leonhard  and 
Gretchen"  (1781),  which  gave  him  fame  and  proved  to 
be  the  most  popular  book  he  ever  wrote, — a  popular  novel 
on  the  new  views  of  education.  In  1782  he  published 
another  novel,  "Christopher  and  Else,"  which,  however, 


244  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

proved  less  popular,  though  the  Agricultural  Society  of 
Bern  gave  him  a  gold  medal  for  it.  By  and  by  he  got 
an  opportunity  to  try  his  new  ideas  about  education 
In  1798  the  French  army  had  massacred  at  Stans,  an* 
Pestalozzi  was  sent  by  the  Swiss  government  to  take 
charge  of  a  number  of  the  orphans  there.  With  these  ig- 
norant, dirty  children  he  worked  wonders  in  a  few  months. 
But  the  institution  was  soon  closed.  Then  he  went  to 
Burgdorf,  in  Canton  Bern.  He  there  published  his  prin- 
ciples of  education  as  now  revised  and  developed  in  a 
new  book,  "How  Gertrude  Taught  Her  Children."  Here 
his  methods  of  teaching  began  to  attract  attention  and 
some  of  his  pupils  became  prominent.  The  Helvetic 
republic  appointed  a  commission  to  examine  his  system, 
and  it  approved  of  his  principles.  But  the  Bern  gov- 
ernment having  required  him  to  give  up  the  castle  in 
which  he  taught,  he  went  to  Yverdon  and  opened  a  school 
(1805).  Here  he  again  tried  his  methods,  but  owing 
to  financial  difficulties,  the  school  ultimately  became  a 
failure.  The  truth  was  that  he  was  more  of  a  teacher 
than  a  financier.  But  though  he  had  to  give  up  his 
school,  his  method  had  by  this  time  made  him  famous. 
His  school  had  been  visited  by  prominent  persons  from 
all  over  Europe.  In  1825  he  retired  to  his  grandson,  at 
Neuhof,  in  Aargau.  There  he  died  February  17,  1827. 
His  principles  revolutionized  education.  It  is  not  too 
much  to  say  that  he  made  universal  education  possible. 
Prussia  was  one  of  the  first  governments  to  adopt  his 
principles  and  make  education  compulsory  in  her  land, 
with  the  result  that  she  is  now  at  the  head  of  Germany.* 

*  What  a  contrast  this  act  of  Prussia  to  that  of  France. 
Pestalozzi  went  at  one  period  of  his  career  to  Paris,  and  a  friend 
endeavored  to  present  him  to  Napoleon  the  Great.  Napoleon 
declined.  "I  have  no  time  for  A  B  C,"  he  said.  When  Pestalozzi 
returned  to  his  home,  his  friends  asked  him,  "Did  you  not  see 
Napoleon  the  Great?"    "No,  I  did  not  see  Napoleon  the  Great, 


John  Henry  Pestalozzi  (the    Father  of  Universal  Education  i 
and  his   Protege 


ZURICH  245 

But  we  have  not  time  to  speak  of  his  educational 
principles.  It  is  his  religious  views  and  influence  in 
which  we  are  interested  here.  This  is  a  somewhat  diffi- 
cult subject  about  which  there  have  been  conflicting 
views.  Some  have  held  that  he  was  a  rationalist,  the 
product  of  Rosseau  in  education,  and  of  Kant  in  phil- 
osophy. There  is  no  doubt  that  he  had  in  him  elements 
from  both  of  these  men,  but  that  they  made  a  rationalist 
out  of  him  is  the  question. 

The  statement  that  he  was  a  rationalist  is  based  on 
several  facts.  One  is  a  letter  he  wrote  to  the  Prussian 
State  Councilor,  October  1,  1773,  at  the  age  of  27,  in 
which  he  confesses  that  he  had  passed  through  great 
struggles,  which  had  chilled  his  piety  without  separating 
him  for  religion.  There  he  declares  himself  to  be  un- 
believing, but  not  because  he  holds  unbelief  to  be  truth, 
but  because  the  sum  of  his  life's  impressions  showed  the 
blessing  of  faith  in  many  ways  out  of  his  inner  feeling. 
"I  believe,"  he  says,  "that  the  Christian  is  the  salt  of  the 
earth ;  but  high  as  I  believe  it,  I  also  believe  that  gold  and 
stone  and  sand  have  worth  independent  of  salt." 

Another  argument  for  his  rationalism  is  based  on  his 
denial  of  total  depravity.  He  held  there  was  something 
good  in  each  child  that  needed  to  be  awakened  and  de- 
veloped and  that  not  all  was  evil.  It  was  to  this  good 
principle  in  the  child  that  he  proposed  to  appeal  in  his 
education.  This  was  different  from  the  old  Calvinistic 
doctrine  of  total  depravity.  But  Pestalozzi's  position  is 
virtually  accepted  to-day  even  by  liberal  Calvinists. 
There  is  something  good  in  each  child.  If  there  were 
not  neither  education,  morals  nor  religion  could  appeal  to 
him.  Many  Calvinists  have  granted  the  position  that 
there  is  an  element  of  good  in  every  man,  but  there  is 

and  Napoleon  the  Great  did  not  see  me."  Napoleon  the  Great 
lived  to  see  the  empire  which  he  had  founded  on  soldiers  crumble 
to  pieces  because  he  had  had  no  time  to  attend  to  A  B  C. 


246  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

not  enough  of  it  to  save  him. 

Another  reason  why  he  has  been  considered  a  ra- 
tionalist was  because  he  attacked  the  pedagogical  method 
of  the  Heidelberg  Catechism  then  in  use  in  Bern  and 
Aargau.  He  objected  to  it  because  it  ran  contrary  to 
some  of  his  pedagogical  ideas.  He  claimed  that  every- 
thing must  be  drawn  out  of  the  child  (education),  but 
opposed  anything  being  put  into  the  child  (instruction). 
He  especially  objected  to  dogmatic  statements  (such  as 
were  found  in  the  Heidelberg  or  in  any  other  catechism  of 
his  day),  being  forced  on  the  child  for  acceptance  and 
committal.  The  child,  he  claimed,  must  develop  these 
things  out  of  its  own  consciousness.  Whether  his  views 
on  this  point  are  correct  or  not  is  not  for  us  to  say,  but 
we  believe  educators  now  would  consider  him  as  having 
gone  too  far  in  this  matter, — education  is  both  educa- 
tion and  instruction,  a  drawing  out  and  a  putting  into  the 
mind  of  the  child.  His  denial  of  the  Heidelberg  Cate- 
chism, however,  would  not  necessarily  mean  rationalism, 
but  only  a  denial  of  its  method  of  presenting  religious 
truths  to  the  child. 

Another  argument  against  Pestalozzi's  religiousness 
is  the  testimony  of  one  of  his  biographers,  who  was  one 
of  his  teachers,  Niederer,  who  declared  that  Pestalozzi 
did  not  stand  on  the  Christian  standpoint. 

On  the  other  hand,  when  one  reads  much  in  Pesta- 
lozzi, one  is  impressed  with  his  religiousness  and  with 
his  simple  faith  in  God.  The  question  about  his  relig- 
ious position  may  be  divided  into  two  parts,  i.  His 
relation  to  the  church.     2.  His  personal  religion. 

As  to  the  first,  it  is  to  be  remembered  that  he  lived 
in  a  day  when  the  conflict  was  beginning  between  aristo- 
crats and  democrats,  which  was  destined  to  revolution- 
ize Switzerland,  later,  about  1830.  The  aristocracies, 
especially  in  the  cities,  were  holding  down  the  poor.  But 
Pestalozzi  wanted  every  one,  even  the  poorest  child,  to 


ZURICH 


247 


have  the  best  opportunity.  In  this  controversy,  most  of 
the  ministry  sided  with  the  aristocrats,  especially  as 
many  of  them  were  born  from  that  party.  This  natur- 
ally would  cause  Pestalozzi's  ardor  to  cool  to  the  church, 
for  he  was  democratic. 

But  when  we  come  to  Pestalozzi  himself,  the  ques- 
tion becomes  different.  First,  as  to  his  method.  A  very 
startling  fact  is  brought  out  by  contrasting  Rosseau  with 
him.  He  was  Rosseau's  pupil  in  his  ideas  of  education, 
only  he  carried  them  to  more  legitimate  ends.  Rosseau 
did  not  want  a  child  to  hear  of  religion  till  the  age  of 
discretion.  How  different  Pestalozzi  from  this.  He  wanted 
the  child  to  have  religious  training,  only  it  must  not  be 
dogmatic.  This  is  brought  out  in  several  of  his  books. 
He  there  broke  directly  with  his  predecessor  Rosseau. 
Then  too,  when  one  comparies  Pestalozzi's  belief  with  the 
creed  of  the  "Vicar  of  Savoy,"  by  Rosseau,  the  difference 
becomes  as  great  as  day  and  night.  The  highest  Ros- 
seau gets  is  a  merely  intellectual  appreciation  of  Christ. 
But  that  is  far  lower  than  Pestalozzi,  whose  faith  comes 
out  of  his  heart.  Perhaps  we  can  state  the  matter  in 
this  way.  To  a  confessionalist  or  a  severely  orthodox 
member  of  the  church,  Pestalozzi  was  heterodox  and  a 
rationalist.  He  was  too  free  to  be  bound  by  any  creed. 
But,  compared  with  Rosseau,  he  was  a  Christian, — a 
believer  in  Christian  realities.  His  methods  may  have 
made  him  seem  more  rationalistic  than  he  really  was,  but 
we  do  not  know  that  his  educational  system  has  ever 
injured  religion  or  its  influence.  As  Hadorn  says:  "He 
was  too  humble,  too  believing,  to  be  a  rationalist."  He 
believed  in  the  religious  training  of  children  and  never 
aimed  to  destroy  a  child's  faith  in  God  or  in  Christ  or 
to  pass  it  by.  It  is  true  that  when  he  was  young  he  de- 
clared to  the  Russian  councilor  that  he  was  unbelieving, 
for  his  faith  had  been  shaken  by  Rosseau ;  but  at  his 
son's  birth  his  religious  sentiment  revived.     When  the 


248  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

revivals  began,  he  looked  on  them  at  first  with  joy  as  a 
return  to  primitive  Christian  simplicity.  But  when  he 
found  that  they  were  preaching  what  seemed  to  him  a 
narrow  theology  that  hardly  left  any  place  for  free  will 
and  refused  to  recognize  in  the  child  any  element  of 
good,  he  gave  up  his  opinion.  And  yet  he  recognized  the 
existence  of  evil  in  the  soul,  for  it  is  the  obvious  teach- 
ing of  some  of  his  fables.  Jayet  says  there  was  no  lack 
of  piety  in  Pestalozzi,  though  certain  points  of  Christi- 
anity were  not  clear,  for  faith  and  love  were  words 
that  were  constantly  recurring  in  his  religious  discourses. 
In  his  later  life  his  religiousness  especially  shows  itself. 
He  revealed  great  power  in  prayer.  On  Christmas  Day, 
181 1,  he  says,  "My  children,  we  want  you  to  share  with 
us  the  joy  of  knowing  that  Jesus  Christ,  our  Saviour, 
came  down  from  heaven  and  became  a  man  among  us. 
Listen  to  the  words  of  the  angel,  'Behold  I  tell  you  good 
tidings  of  great  joy,'  etc.  Keep  these  words  carefully  in 
your  hearts."  When  the  institution  at  Yverdon  was  on 
the  point  of  dissolution,  he  with  his  characteristic  con- 
scientiousness, reproached  himself  for  not  having  given 
a  more  solid  religious  character  to  his  work.  On  his 
death-bed  he  cried,  "I  am  soon  going  to  read  in  the  book 
of  truth,  knowing  full  well  that  man  is  not  permitted  to 
understand  everything  here  below."  He  then  added,  ''I 
am  going  to  eternal  peace."  Such  expressions  are  not 
those  of  an  infidel  or  rationalist. 


CHAPTER  II 
Basle 

Section   i 

prof.  john  jacob  wettsteln 

The  Basle  Church,  unlike  the  Zurich  Church,  resisted 
the  tide  of  rationalism  in  the  eighteenth  century  and 
remained  Evangelical.  There  was,  however,  one  promi- 
nent exception,  Prof.  John  Jacob  Wettstein,  a  descendant 
of  the  prominent  statesman  at  the  end  of  the  Thirty  Years' 
War,  of  whom  we  have  spoken  and  also  a  nephew  of 
Prof.  J.  R.  Wettstein,  who  refused  to  sign  the  Helvetic 
Consensus.  He  was  born  at  Basle,  March  5,  1693,  and 
studied  there.  Though  a  pupil  of  Buxdorf,  the  younger, 
he  was  his  opposite  in  his  inclination  to  the  critical.  At 
his  examination  as  a  candidate  of  theology  (1713)  he 
took  for  his  subject,  "The  Variations  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment," in  which,  however,  he  showed  that  the  variety  of 
the  readings  had  not  invalidated  the  divinity  of  the  book. 
For  through  the  kindness  of  his  uncle,  Prof.  J.  R.  Wett- 
stein, he  had  been  given  access  to  the  manuscripts  of  the 
New  Testament,  in  the  Basle  library.  Then  he  traveled 
abroad,  to  Zurich,  Bern,  Geneva,  Lyons  and  Paris.  He 
went  to  England  (1715),  where  Bentley,  the  great  scholar, 
gave  him  the  use  of  his  library.  He  there  examined  the 
Alexandrine  Codex  on  1  Timothy  3  :  16,  whether  the  read- 
ing was  "theos,"  God,  or  "os,"  he.  The  orthodox 
held  to  the  former,  because  it  was  one  of  the  proof- 
texts  of  the  trinity.  On  examining  it,  he  found  that  if 
the  manuscript  were  laid  flat  on  a  table  nothing  but  "os" 

249 


250 


THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 


could  be  seen,  and  when  he  used  a  magnifying  glass,  it 
gave  "os."  But  if  it  were  held  up  perpendicularly,  there 
would  appear  a  stroke  that  made  it  "theos."  He  found, 
on  examination,  that  this  stroke  belonged  not  to  the  word 
"os,"  but  was  the  first  letter  of  the  word  on  the  opposite 
side  of  the  page.  Wettstein's  opinion  is  now  generally 
supported  by  critics,  but  it  led  him  to  be  suspected  of 
heterodoxy  by  his  own  age.  Neither  does  the  use  of 
"os"  invalidate  the  doctrine  of  the  trinity,  for  there  are 
other  proof-texts  to  support  it.  Bentley  was  so  pleased 
with  him  that  he  gave  him  fifty  guineas  to  go  to  Paris  to 
study  the  Codex  Ephraim.  Then  he  became  (1716) 
chaplain  of  a  Swiss  regiment,  in  the  English  army,  which 
was  ordered  to  Holland.  In  1717  he  returned  to  Basle 
as  assistant  pastor.  There,  two  years  later,  he  again  be- 
gan his  critical  studies  and  then  made  up  his  mind  to 
publish  a  critical  edition  of  the  New  Testament.  He  be- 
came private-docent  at  the  university  there,  and  by  his 
scholarship  gained  a  great  influence  over  the  students. 
He  would  lecture  to  them  on  New  Testament  exegesis 
and  also  dogmatics,  according  to  Osterwald's  theology, 
which  was  not  considered  orthodox  by  the  Calvinists 
there.  His  critical  researches  began  to  awaken  suspicion 
and  his  growing  popularity  started  the  jealousy  of  some 
of  the  professors.  Matters  finally  came  to  a  crisis. 
Toward  the  end  of  1728  it  happened  that  Professor  Frey, 
a  follower  of  Buxdorf,  and  Wettstein  were  together  in 
the  library  where  the  latter  was  at  work.  Grynseus,  a 
student,  was  present.  Frey  asked  Wettstein  whether  he 
believed  that  such  efforts  as  his  at  criticism  would  re- 
dound to  the  glory  of  God.  He  replied,  "Yes."  Frey, 
to  prove  the  utter  unreliability  of  criticism,  said  that 
Mill,  the  critic,  placed  the  Basle  Codex  early,  and  Wett- 
stein placed  it  later.  Such  things  only  produce  confu- 
sion. Wettstein  replied  that  the  decision  lay  in  the  well- 
known  rules  of  textual  criticism.     Then  they  got  into  a 


BASLE  251 

discussion  as  to  the  form  of  the  circumflex  used  in  the 
Basle  Codex.  Wettstein  declared  it  was  round  in  form. 
Frey,  that  it  was  right-angled.  They  took  down  the 
Codex  with  Grynseus  as  judge.  It  was  found  that  Wett- 
stein was  right,  and  Frey  went  away  angry. 

On  September  9,  1728,  the  Basle  Council  ordered  an 
investigation,  as  he  was  charged  with  Socinianism.  But 
he  made  such  an  able  reply  that  he  was  cleared.  Then  he 
turned  on  his  opponents,  Professors  Frey  and  Iselin,  and 
charged  them  with  Sabellianism.  His  preaching  now  be- 
gan to  reflect  his  newer  views.  He  criticised  the  Lu- 
theran Bible,  which  was  used  at  Basle,  as  not  always  true 
to  the  original.  This  caused  offence.  He  also,  in  preach- 
ing, used  a  faulty  figure  of  speech  in  comparing  the  rela- 
tion of  the  Father  and  the  Son  to  that  of  a  minister  and 
his  assistant,  which  would  make  the  son  subordinate. 
Other  charges  were  made  against  him,  some  of  them  not 
true.  But  it  was  evident  that  he  was  getting  more  and 
more  into  the  critical  mind  and  farther  away,  not  only 
from  Calvinistic  orthodoxy,  but  dangerously  away  from 
all  orthodoxy.  The  critical  mind  was  driving  out  the 
dogmatical.  Still  he  declared  he  held  to  the  Basle 
Confession. 

Complaint  was  made  at  the  Evangelical  Diet,  July, 
1729,  against  him  that  he  intended  to  publish  a  new  edi- 
tion of  the  New  Testament  that  inclined  to  Socinianism. 
In  October,  1729,  the  Basle  authorities  ordered  his  room 
to  be  searched  for  the  manuscript,  but  they  found  nothing. 
By  February  he  gave  them  part  of  it — up  to  Matthew 
2:  12.  On  May  13,  1730,  the  council,  in  spite  of  the  pro- 
test of  his  congregation,  dismissed  him  from  office. 
Viewed  from  the  standpoint  of  to-day,  the  trial  was,  in 
many  ways,  unworthy  of  so  great  a  man  in  what  is  now 
granted  by  criticism,  yet  he  laid  himself  open  by  care- 
less actions  to  charges  against  his  orthodoxy. 

He  left  Basle  for  Amsterdam.     There  a  new  field  was 


252  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

opening  for  him  in  1731.  Professor  Clericus,  of  the  Re- 
monstrant or  Arminian  Theological  Seminary  there,  was 
retired,  and  Wettstein  was  offered  his  place,  but  on  con- 
dition that  he  would  clear  himself  of  the  charge  of  heresy. 
So  he  went  back  to  Basle  (1731)  to  get  a  clear  dismissal. 
There  he  defended  himself  before  both  councils,  and  was 
readmitted  to  its  ministry,  March  22,  1732.  By  this  time 
the  pastors  had  withdrawn  their  opposition,  and  only 
Professors  Frey  and  Iselin  were  his  enemies.  He  wanted 
to  be  made  professor  of  Hebrew,  but  the  continued  op- 
position of  Frey  and  Iselin  made  it  impossible.  The 
council  also  recalled  the  permission  to  preach  given  in 
1732.  So  he  left  Basle,  went  to  Amsterdam,  and,  in  1736, 
was  elected  the  successor  of  Le  Clerc  or  Clericus.  In 
1744,  as  most  of  his  old  enemies  had  died  and  the  op- 
position to  him  passed  away,  Basle  elected  him  professor 
of  Greek.  But  the  Remonstrants  in  Holland  had  been 
so  kind  to  him  that  he  declined  it  and  remained  with 
them.  In  1745,  when  he  revisited  Basle  to  see  his  aged 
mother,  he  was  received  with  honor  even  by  some  of 
the  professors  of  theology.  In  1746  he  visited  England 
and,  notwithstanding  the  suspicions  against  his  orthodoxy, 
he  was  received  with  great  honor.  He  was  made  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel 
and  the  Berlin  Academy  of  Sciences.  His  critical  "New 
Testament"  appeared  I749"52-  He  died  May  9,  l7SA,  at 
Amsterdam. 

Section  2 

prof.  leonard  euler 

Basle  became  famous  in  the  eighteenth  century  for 
its  scientists  in  Euler  and  the  Bernoullis.  He  was  born 
April  15,  1707,  at  Basle,  but  the  next  year  his  father 
moved  to  the  village  of  Riehen.  The  boy  is  father  of 
the  man,  and  the  scientist  early  appeared  in  him.     One 


BASLE  253 

day  the  little  boy  was  missed  for  a  long  time  and  finally 
found  in  a  chicken  stable,  sitting  on  a  great  lot  of  eggs 
that  he  had  collected.  When  asked  what  he  was  doing, 
he  answered  that  he  wanted  to  hatch  the  eggs  so  as  to 
see  the  chickens  come  out.  He  was  educated  for  the 
ministry  at  Basle.  But  he  had  such  an  incredible  mem- 
ory that  in  addition  to  his  theological  studies  he  attended 
the  mathematical  lectures  of  Prof.  John  Bernoulli.  The 
latter's  influence  made  mathematics  seize  hold  of  him,  so 
that  he  gave  up  the  ministry  and  became  a  great  genius 
in  mathematics. 

For  he  was  born  just  at  the  beginning  of  a  new  era 
in  science.  Not  long  before  his  birth,  Newton,  in  1687, 
had  written  his  "Mathematical  Principles  of  Natural 
Philosophy."  These  new  ideas  Leibnitz  reduced  to 
mathematical  form.  Then  came  Jacob  and  John  Ber- 
noulli working  on  them.  The  latter  introduced  Euler 
to  the  new  methods.  At  the  early  age  of  seventeen,  he 
received  the  master's  degree,  where  he  gained  great 
applause  by  his  address  on  "A  Comparison  of  the  New- 
tonian and  Cartesian  Philosophies."  At  nineteen  he  re- 
ceived the  second  prize  of  the  Paris  Academy  for  the 
best  work  on  the  mastery  of  ships, — the  more  remarkable 
because  he  had  never  seen  a  ship,  and  lived  a  great  way 
off  from  the  sea.  In  all  he  received  during  his  lifetime 
twelve  prizes  from  the  Paris  Academy.  In  1727  he  was 
a  candidate  for  the  professorship  of  physics,  at  Basle, 
but  failed,  and  so  Basle  lost  him.  He  was  called  to  St. 
Petersburg  as  professor  of  physics.  There  is  a  story 
told  of  him  that  in  1735  the  academy  there  required  an 
astronomical  calculation  to  be  quickly  made.  The  other 
mathematicians  wanted  some  months  to  make  it.  Euler 
shut  himself  up  in  a  room  and  completed  it  in  three 
days.  But  the  mental  strain  was  so  great  as  to  throw 
him  into  a  fever  from  which  he  lost  the  sight  of  one  eye. 
In  1 741  he  was  called  to  Berlin  by  Frederick  the  Great, 


254 


THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 


where  he  taught  mathematics  for  twenty-five  years. 
When  asked  why  he  left  St.  Petersburg,  he  replied:  "I 
go  out  of  a  land  where  a  man  is  hung  if  he  talks."  For 
he  was  a  free  Swiss,  and  though  away  from  Switzerland 
most  of  his  life,  he  never  gave  up  his  Swiss  citizenship. 
In  1748  Basle  wanted  to  get  him  back  to  take  Prof.  John 
Bernoulli's  place,  but  he  would  not  come.  With  Vol- 
taire he  was  the  most  prominent  representative  of  the 
academy  at  Berlin.  In  1766  he  returned  as  professor  to 
St.  Petersburg.  In  1771  his  house  was  burned,  to- 
gether with  many  of  his  manuscripts  and  he,  now  blind, 
was  saved  by  a  friend  from  being  burned  to  death.  He 
had  one  of  the  most  wonderful  memories  known  to  man. 
He  knew  the  ^neid  by  heart.  When  seventy-five  years 
of  age  he  one  night  reckoned  the  first  six  potences  of 
the  first  twenty  numbers  and  recited  them  forward  and 
backward  for  some  days.  His  activity  went  in  all  di- 
rections, publishing  works  on  mathematics,  gunnery, 
windmills,  ethics  and  music.  His  greatest  discovery  was 
the  lunar  motions.  Just  before  his  death,  he  did  some 
work  on  Uranus,  the  newly  discovered  planet,  by  Her- 
schel.  Suddenly,  September  t8,  1783,  he  fell  over  dead. 
A  block  of  Finnish  granite,  a  fine  type  of  his  rugged, 
yet  firm  character,  marks  his  grave  at  St.  Petersburg. 
He  was  one  of  the  greatest  scientists  of  the  world.  If 
the  Reformed  Church  had  her  great  scientist  in  the  sev- 
enteenth century  in  Kepler,  in  the  eighteenth  century  she 
had  her  great  scientists  in  Euler  and  the  Bernoullis. 

But  it  is  of  Euler,  not  as  a  scientist,  but  as  an  apolo- 
gist, that  we  wish  especially  to  speak.  In  a  day  when 
rationalism  seemed  to  have  the  field,  his  defence  of  re- 
ligion is  the  more  noteworthy.  If  Voltaire  was  the 
great  infidel  of  the  court  of  Frederick  the  Great,  Euler 
was  the  Christian  there.  As  long  as  he  possessed  his 
sight  he  was  accustomed  to  assemble  his  family  for  wor- 
ship each  evening.     In   1747  he  wrote  his  "Defence  of 


BASLE  255 

Revelation,"  against  of  the  "Objections  of  the  Free 
Thinkers."'  It  came  at  a  critical  time,  when  Voltaire 
was  in  control  of  Prussia.  He  started  by  saying  that 
the  perfection  of  the  intellect  is  the  knowledge  of  truth, 
and  especially  the  truth  of  God  and  His  works.  From 
the  revelation  thus  gained,  man  is  able  to  know  his 
duty  and  to  find  his  highest  enjoyment  in  God.  He  then 
argues  in  favor  of  a  divine  revelation,  defends  miracles, 
especially  the  miracle  of  Christ's  resurrection.  He  makes 
use  of  his  favorite  science  of  geometry,  by  showing  that 
even  in  such  an  exact  science  there  are  difficulties  and 
contradictions.  In  the  last  paragraphs  he  appeals  to  as- 
tronomy as  an  aid  in  defence  of  religion.  It  is  a  brief 
work,  consisting  of  fifty-three  briefs,  these  seemingly  dis- 
tinct, but  bound  together  by  an  underlying  logic.  It  was 
a  noble  defence  of  Christianity  in  a  day  when  such  a 
defence  was  greatly  needed,  and,  coming  from  a  scientist, 
it  had  the  greater  influence. 

He  also  appears  as  an  apologist  in  another  work, 
"Letters  to  a  German  Princess"  (1775).  The  princess 
of  Anhalt-Dessau,  a  niece  of  Frederick  the  Great,  wanted 
to  receive  lessons  in  physics.  These  lessons  he  put  to- 
gether with  a  strong  defence  of  prayer,  miracles,  provi- 
dence, freedom  of  the  will  and  immortality.  He 
grounded  his  apologetic  proofs  on  the  necessity  of  a  new 
birth. 

Section  3 

prof.  john  christopher  beck* 

Before  leaving  Basle,  another  name  should  be  men- 
tioned because  of  his  theological  ability,  John  Chris- 
topher Beck.     His  theological  position  is  also  significant 

*  See  "Die  Theologische  Schule  Basels,"  by  Hagenbach, 
pages  46-49. 


256  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

of  the  change  in  dogmatics  then  taking  place.  He  was 
a  nephew  of  Prof.  Frey,  the  opponent  of  Prof.  John 
Jacob  Wettstein.  He  was  born  at  Basle,  March  1,  171 1, 
and  studied  there  under  Iselin  and  Frey.  He  became 
professor  of  church  history  (1737)  and  of  dogmatics 
(1740).  Against  the  pietists,  who  at  that  time  became 
prominent,  he  wrote  (1753),  "The  Groundlessness  of 
Separatism."  But  it  was  especially  his  "Compendium  of 
Dogmatics"  that  made  him  famous.     He  died  May  17, 

I785- 

His  "Compendium  of  Dogmatics"  was  a  remarkable 
book.  In  many  respects  it  reminds  one  of  Wolleb's 
"Compendium,"  published  two  centuries  before.  Yet  it 
differed  from  it  and  in  doing  so  revealed  the  differences 
in  doctrine  between  the  two  periods.  Wolleb's  repre- 
sented the  older  Calvinism,  though  not  so  scholastic  as 
Polanus.  Beck  represented  the  newer  and  later  Calvin- 
ism. Although  the  old  theology  was  shaken,  yet  funda- 
mentally it  remained  the  same.  He  held  to  the  funda- 
mentals, but  was  liberal  in  tone.  Thus  there  is  no  stress 
placed  on  polemics  as  had  always  been  done.  He  repre- 
sented the  irenic  spirit  of  Werenfels  and  Osterwald. 
He  claimed  that  the  Lord's  Supper  ought  to  be  a  bond 
of  union,  rather  than  an  apple  of  discord  as  it  had  been ; 
indeed  he  raised  the  question  whether  it  did  not  belong 
to  liturgies  rather  than  dogmatics.  He  did  this  in 
order  to  get  rid  of  the  polemics  about  it.  His  "Com- 
pendium" is  conceived  in  the  spirit  of  Werenfels,  yet  is 
firmer  in  its  Calvinism,  for  where  Werenfels  is  often  the 
rhetorician,  he  was  the  dogmatician.  He  also  differed 
from  his  predecessors,  as  Wolleb,  for  he  separated  ethics 
from  dogmatics.  Still  he  viewed  dogmatics  from  a  prac- 
tical standpoint.  He  was  the  first  to  teach  the  science 
of  "Theological  Encyclopedia."  His  "Compendium"  was 
widely  used  as  a  manual  for  students  down  to  the  first 
decade  of  the  nineteenth  century.     It  was  the  last  impor- 


BASLE  257 

tant  work  on  Calvinistic  dogmatics  in  Switzerland,  re- 
vealing the  philosophic  influence  of  its  age  and  yet  in  the 
main  true  to  Calvinistic  orthodoxy. 


17 


CHAPTER  III 

Bern 

Bern,  like  Basle,  and  unlike  Zurich,  did  not  suc- 
cumb to  the  rationalism  of  the  eighteenth  century,  but 
there  are  several  men  of  prominence  who  deserve  to  be 
mentioned  in  the  controversy. 

Section  i 

the  stapfer  family 

The  Stapfer  family  was  a  prominent  family  and 
especially  so  in  the  eighteenth  century.  John  Frederick 
Stapfer  was  the  ablest  of  them.  Born  1708  he  studied 
at  Bern  and  Marburg,  where  he  came  under  the  influ- 
ence of  Professor  Wolff,  the  famous  philosopher  and 
rationalist.  He  came  back  to  Bern,  and  after  being  a 
private  tutor  for  ten  years,  he  became  pastor  at  Diesbach, 
near  Thun,  the  successor  of  Lutz  or  Lucius,  the  famous 
pietist,  of  whom  we  will  speak  in  the  next  book  of  this 
volume.  He  remained  there  as  pastor  for  about  twenty- 
five  years,  up  to  the  time  of  his  death,  in  1775.  He 
never  was  a  professor  of  theology  because  he  preferred 
the  pastorate,  but  he  exerted  a  wider  influence  by  his 
writings  than  many  a  professor  of  theology.  Bern  had 
had  Cartesianism,  under  Professor  Wyss,  but  now  Wolfi- 
anism  appeared.  He  tried  to  apply  the  Wolfian  methods 
to  the  defence  of  Christianity.  Thus  the  philosophy  of 
Wolff  gave  a  large  place  to  natural  theology  and  Stapfer 
gives  it  a  large  and  prominent  place  in  his  dogmatics. 
Before  his  day,  dogmatics  had  been  mainly  exegetical ; 
he  aimed  to  make  it  philosophical.     Philosophy,  he  said, 

258 


BERN  259 

must  purify  theology  as  to  the  fundamentals  of  reason. 
He  based  theological  truths  on  the  double  principles  of 
reason  and  revelation,  the  first  being  universal  and  funda- 
mental, the  second  spiritual  and  positive.  But  he  was 
not  a  rationalist,  only  a  supernatural  rationalist,  for  he 
believes  in  the  supernatural,  only  he  recognized  the  rights 
of  reason.  Like  the  Wolfian  theology,  his  work  is  largely 
apologetical.  He  might  be  called  an  orthodox  Wolfian, 
seeking  by  the  demonstrative  methods  to  prove  the  truth 
of  Christianity.  He  was  a  Calvinist,  but  not  of  the  old 
high  Calvinistic  type,  but  of  the  lower  or  sublapsarian 
Calvinistic  type,  like  Professors  Wyttenbach  (himself  a 
Bernese),  and  Endemann,  of  Marburg.*  He  was  not 
only  a  low  Calvinist,  but  also  concilatory,  indeed  too 
conciliatory  for  the  strict  Calvinists  of  Bern,  for  the 
censor  of  Bern  struck  out  a  paragraph  of  his  polemical 
theology,  as  being  altogether  too  mild  against  the  Lu- 
therans. His  liberal  Calvinism  was  introduced  into 
America  by  Jonathan  Edwards,  who  read  his  works  and 
his  views  of  the  universal  atonement,  etc.,  prepared  the 
way  for  the  New  England  or  New  School  Presbyterian 
Theology  of  America.  His  great  theological  abilities 
caused  him  to  have  several  calls  as  professor  of  theology. 
Marburg  alone  called  him  four  times,  but  he  declined. 
He  was  the  most  voluminous  and  suggestive  theological 
writer  of  his  day,  in  Bern.  His  theological  works  were, 
"Institutes,  theological,  polemical,  universal"  (1743),  pub- 
lished when  only  a  private  tutor,  in  five  volumes ;  a  sym- 
bolic, "Foundations  of  the  True  Religion"  ( 1746-53) ,  in 
twelve  volumes;  "Dogmatics"  (1757-60),  in  six  volumes; 
"Ethics"  (1756-86),  in  six  volumes,  and  "Catechism  of 
the  Christian  Religion"  (1769).  Kant  declared  his  "In- 
stitutes" the  most  rational  methodical  statement  of  dog- 
matics extant.     Better  than  any  one  else  of  his  day,  he 

*  See  my  "History  of  the  Reformed  Church  of  Germany," 
pages  439  and  615. 


260  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

combined  the  philosophy  of  his  day  with  theology.  But 
in  doing  so,  he  followed  the  synthetic  methods  and  set 
aside  the  federal  theology,  which  for  a  century  and  a 
half  had  been  the  dominant  theology  in  the  Reformed 
Church,  and  made  the  satisfaction  of  Christ  the  center 
of  dogmatics,  instead  of  the  covenants. 

A  younger  brother  of  John  Frederick  Stapfer,  John, 
born  1719,  also  became  prominent.  Educated  at  Bern, 
he  first  became  temporary  professor  of  theology  and  then 
full  professor  of  theology  (1776).  He  died  1801.  He 
was  an  eloquent  preacher,  always  crowding  the  cathe- 
dral with  hearers.  His  strength  lay  in  practical  theology. 
He  published  seven  volumes  of  sermons  (1761-81)  and 
became  famous  for  his  new  version  of  the  Psalms  (1783), 
which  gradually  displaced  the  old  Lobwasser  version  in 
use  in  the  churches.  He  published  his  "Theologia  Elenc- 
thica,"  in  1756,  his  "Theologia  Didactica"  (1176)  and 
"Theologia  Analytica"  (1763).  But  he  did  not  have  the 
virile  strength  of  intellect  of  his  brother,  of  whom  we 
have  just  spoken.  He  was  always  careful  to  abstain  from 
critical  questions  as  he  wanted  the  students  to  be  Biblical. 
On  this  account  he  was  the  more  acceptable  to  the  minis- 
ters of  Bern,  who  looked  on  his  brother  Frederick  with 
suspicion,  as  departing  from  the  high  Calvinism  of  Bern. 
For  that  reason,  Frederick,  though  eminently  qualified 
for  the  position,  never  could  be  elected  a  professor  of 
theology  in  Bern. 

Still  another  brother,  Daniel,  acquired  fame  as  a 
pulpit  orator.  His  sermons  in  the  cathedral  at  Bern, 
especially  the  one  of  the  earthquake  of  Lisbon,  in  which 
he  ridiculed  the  rationalists  of  his  day,  were  very  popular. 
Wieland  considered  him  one  of  the  best  pulpit  orators 
of  his  day. 

Before  leaving  this  notable  family  of  Stapfers,  we 
will  mention  a  later  member  of  the  family,  Philip  Albert 


BERN  261 

Stapfer.*  He  was  the  son  of  the  last  named,  Daniel 
Stapfer,  born  September  23,  1766.  He  studied  the  con- 
servative theology  under  his  uncle  at  Bern.  Then  he 
went  (1789)  to  Goettingen,  where  the  rationalism  of  his 
teachers  raised  doubts  that  lasted  for  ten  years.  After 
a  visit  to  England  and  Paris,  he  came  back  to  Bern  in 
the  anguish  of  doubt.  But  he  did  not  resign  himself  to 
his  doubts,  but  fought  his  way  through  them.  That  he 
did  not  lose  faith  is  due  largely  to  the  influence  of  his 
mother,  who  had  taught  him  that  religion  was  not  merely 
a  matter  of  the  head,  but  also  of  the  heart.  He  was  soon 
called  upon  (1792)  to  aid  his  uncle  in  teaching  theology, 
notwithstanding  the  suspicions  against  him  for  his  looser 
theological  views.  In  1797  he  was  elected  professor  of 
theology  at  Bern.  He  soon  became  the  head  and  soul 
of  the  academy  there.  It  is  true  he  was  charged  with 
putting  philosophy  in  the  place  of  theology.  He  was  a 
Kantian  but  more  positive  than  Kant,  for  his  deep  re- 
ligious feeling  prevented  the  intellectuality  of  Kant  from 
controlling  him.  He  would  have  attained  to  eminence 
as  a  theologian,  but  his  career  was  cut  short  by  politics. 
While  Daniel  Muslin,  the  eloquent  preacher,  was  the 
great  patriot  of  Bern,  and  with  Lavater  defending 
Swiss  freedom  against  the  French,  Stapfer  was  in 
sympathy  with  the  French  Revolution.  He  was  a  strange 
combination  in  those  days.  Though  a  republican,  he  was 
not  a  rationalist,  as  were  most  republicans  then.  So  the 
Helvetic  Republic  put  him  in  control  of  the  church  affairs 
of  Switzerland  (1798-1801).  Fortunate  was  it  for 
Switzerland  that  a  mere  politician  was  not  appointed  to 
this  position,  or  else  the  church  would  have  suffered 
more  than  she  did.  For  the  new  government  uprooted 
the  old  church  laws  and  it  was  owing  to  him  that  the 
church  was  not  robbed  and  plundered  more  than   she 

*  See  his  life  by  Liiginbuehl,  Basle,  1887. 


262  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

was.  He  pled  with  the  government  for  the  payment  of 
the  salaries  of  the  ministers,  who  were  often  not  paid. 
He  attempted  the  reorganization  of  the  cantonal  churches, 
so  as  to  unite  them  into  one  national  church,  but  did 
not  have  time  to  carry  it  through.  With  the  fall  of 
the  Helvetic  Republic,  he  left  Switzerland  for  Paris, 
where  he  spent  the  rest  of  his  life.  There  he  was  a 
strong  supporter  of  all  forms  of  practical  Christianity, 
especially  of  Bible  and  missionary  societies.  He  became 
the  honored  leader  of  the  French  Protestant  church. 
He  passed  during  his  life  from  Kantian  moralism  to  the 
revival  and  then  to  the  independence  of  the  church  from 
the  state,  influencing  Vinet  greatly  in  the  latter  view. 
He  died  1840. 

Section  2 
prof.  albert  von  haller 

Albert  von  Haller  was  one  of  the  greatest  Swiss,  and 
one  of  the  most  distinguished  apologists  of  his  age.  He 
was  Bern's  greatest  son, — Haller  the  Great,  as  he  has  been 
called.  He  was  a  universal  genius,  a  poet,  a  scientist 
and  a  Christian. 

Albert  Haller  came  of  a  prominent  Bernese  fam- 
ily, being  a  descendant  of  Rev.  John  Haller,  who  reor- 
ganized, as  we  have  seen,  the  Bern  Church  in  the  six- 
teenth century.  He  was  born  at  Bern  on  October  16, 
1708,  and  early  revealed  unusual  precociousness.  At  the 
age  of  five,  he  would  at  family  worship  make  exhorta- 
tions to  the  domestics  on  Scripture  texts.  At  eight,  in 
addition  to  Latin,  he  had  studied  Greek  and  Hebrew.  By 
his  ninth  year  he  had  read  the  Greek  Testament  and  had 
composed  for  his  own  use  a  Chaldee  grammar  and  a 
lexicon  of  Hebrew  and  Greek  words  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment,— also  a  dictionary  of  more  than  two  thousand  quo- 
tations from  prominent  men.      At  nine  and  a  half,  as 


BERN  263 

a  test  for  his  entrance  into  a  class  at  school,  he  was  given 
a  Latin  theme.  What  did  he  do  but  write  his  subject  in 
Greek.  At  twelve,  Homer  was  his  favorite  book.  But 
his  remarkable  precociousness  found  little  sympathy  from 
his  family  and  neighbors,  rather  it  was  looked  upon  as 
forwardness  and  pride.  They  did  not  know  what  a 
genius  they  had  among  them. 

His  early  education  was  at  Bern.  He  naturally  in- 
clined to  the  ministry  and  such  was  the  desire  of  his 
parents.  But  unfortunately  his  father  died  when  he  was 
about  thirteen  years  old :  or  fortunately,  we  might  say, 
for  he  would  never  have  exerted  the  influence  in  the 
ministry  that  he  did  in  science.  Bern  lost  by  this  a 
brilliant  preacher,  but  gained  a  great  natural  philoso- 
pher. After  his  father's  death,  he  was  sent  to  a  friend 
of  his  father's,  a  celebrated  physician,  Neuhaus,  at  Biel, 
who  was  to  teach  him  philosophy.  Neuhaus  was  inclined 
to  the  liberal  philosophy  of  Descartes,  but  this  Cartesian 
philosophy  of  doubt  did  not  attract  so  religious  a  mind 
as  Haller's.  Still  it  instilled  into  his  young  mind  certain 
doubts  from  which  he  did  not  recover  until  he,  years 
after,  read  Ditton's  "Resurrection  of  Christ."  But 
Haller  inclined  more  and  more  from  philosophy  to  nature. 
To  console  himself  in  his  doubts  he  took  to  writing  po- 
etry, for  he  was  a  born  poet.  At  the  age  of  ten  he  had 
already  begun  writing  poetry  and  his  friends  laughed  at 
him  then.  But  now  he  took  to  it  seriously  and  by  sixteen 
he  had  produced  a  considerable  number  of  poems  as 
comedies  and  tragedies,  and  some  translations  from  the 
classics,  even  an  epic  of  four  thousand  verses  on  the 
origin  of  Switzerland.  When  a  fire  occurred  at  his 
house  at  Biel,  though  other  things  were  consumed,  he 
saved  his  poems.  Some  years  later,  when  his  mind  had 
become  more  mature  and  his  conception  of  poetry  higher, 
he  burned  most  of  his  youthful  effusions. 

During  this  period  of  his  life  he  inclined  more  and 


264  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

more  to  study  medicine.  So  when  hardly  fifteen  years 
of  age  he  went  (1723)  to  the  University  of  Tubingen, 
in  southern  Germany,  to  study  philosophy  and  anatomy. 
Here  he  attracted  notice  in  a  public  disputation,  by  tak- 
ing sides  against  his  professor,  claiming  that  the  latter 
was  making  an  anatomical  error,  which  he  some  years  af- 
terward proved.  There  he  also  revealed  the  natural  pur- 
ity of  his  life,  for  he  was  so  disgusted  with  the  riotous 
revels  of  the  students,  that  he  renounced  all  mere  frolic. 
But  Tubingen  could  not  satisfy  him.  The  student  life 
was  rough  and  the  professors,  it  seemed  to  him,  not  up- 
to-date.  So,  after  being  there  for  six  months,  he  went  to 
the  University  of  Leyden,  in  Holland,  attracted  thither 
by  such  teachers  as  Professors  Boerhaave  and  Alcinus, 
and  by  such  special  privileges  as  were  given  by  an  ana- 
tomical auditorium  for  dissections  and  a  botanical  garden 
of  nearly  6,000  plants,  where  their  medical  properties 
could  be  studied. 

Boerhaave,  like  Haller,  had  originally  been  intended 
for  the  ministry,  but  had  been  kept  out  of  it  by  uncon- 
trollable circumstances.  As  a  young  men,  his  heart  was 
set  on  the  ministry  and  the  ministry  would  have  been 
greatly  honored  by  so  bright  and  spiritual  a  mind.  He 
had  gone  farther  in  his  studies  toward  the  ministry  than 
Haller,  for  he  had  gotten  a  license  to  preach,  when  the 
way  into  the  ministry  was  suddenly  closed  against  him. 
An  insinuation  that  he  was  an  Arian  was  spread  abroad 
against  him.  In  vain  he  protested  that  it  was  not  true. 
The  torrent  of  popular  prejudice  was  irresistible.  So, 
knowing  ordination  would  be  refused  he  entered  another 
profession,  namely  medicine.  He  nobly  lived  down  the 
slander  against  him  like  a  hero.  He  used  to  say  of  such 
slanders  afterward,  "They  are  sparks,  if  you  do  not 
blow  them,  they  will  go  out  of  themselves."  Providence 
kept  him  out  of  the  ministry  for  great  purposes,  that  he 
might  wield  in  medicine  a  greater  influence  than  in  the 


BERN  265 

ministry.  He  was  probably  the  most  prominent  medical 
professor  of  his  day,  attracting  students  from  all  over 
Europe  to  Leyden.  Thus  Czar  Peter  the  Great  once 
kept  his  boat  in  a  canal,  just  outside  of  Boerhaave's 
house,  all  night,  so  that  he  might  have  an  interview  with 
him  the  next  morning,  before  he  went  to  his  lectures. 
And  yet,  though  immersed  in  science,  he  never,  like 
some  scientists,  as  Darwin,  ceased  to  be  religious  or  lost 
his  spirituality.  Every  morning  he  devoted  an  hour  to 
the  reading  of  his  Bible  and  to  religious  meditation.  To 
this  habit  he  attributed  his  cheerfulness  in  the  midst  of 
overwhelming  labors.  The  traveler,  who  to-day  visits 
Leyden,  will  find  in  the  Church  of  St.  Peter,  a  monu- 
ment, dedicated  to  Boerhaave  by  the  city  of  Leyden, 
on  which  is  the  inscription:  "To  the  health-giving  skill 
of  Boerhaave.  For  since  the  days  of  Hypocrates,  no 
physician  has  caused  as  much  admiration  as  he." 

We  have  dwelt  at  some  length  on  Boerhaave's  life, 
even  though  he  was  not  a  Swiss,  because  his  life  is  so 
much  like  Haller's.  Both  were  originally  intended  for 
the  ministry  and  yet  did  not  get  into  it.  Both  exerted 
a  wider  influence  in  science  than  they  would  have  done 
in  the  ministry.  Both  stood  in  an  age  of  godlessness  and 
infidelity  as  bold  witnesses  for  vital  piety.  Fortunate 
was  it  that  Haller,  as  a  student,  came  under  the  influence 
of  so  fine  a  Christian  scientist  as  Boerhaave.  It  stayed 
him  against  doubt  and  developed  him  spiritually,  for 
science  and  spirituality  make  a  fine  combination.  Haller 
confessed  in  his  old  age  his  great  indebtedness  to  Boer- 
haave, for  he  said  the  year  1726  was  the  year  when  God 
opened  his  eyes  to  the  light..  He  afterwards  says,  "Fifty 
years  have  elapsed  since  I  was  a  disciple  of  the  immortal 
Boerhaave,  but  his  image  is  continually  present  to  my 
mind.  I  have  always  before  my  eyes  the  venerable  sim- 
plicity of  that  great  man,  who  possessed  in  an  eminent 
degree  the  talent  of  persuading.     How  many  times  hath 


266  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

he  said,  when  speaking  of  the  precepts  of  our  Saviour, 
that    this    divine    teacher    knew    mankind    better    than 
Socrates."  Boerhaave  gave  the  young  Swiss  unusual  priv- 
ileges.    Two  hours  a  day  he  was  allowed  to  spend  with 
Boerhaave,  in  his  botanical  garden,  in  the  study  of  plants, 
which  prepared  him  for  his  great  work  on  botany.     Dur- 
ing his  course  at  Leyden,  he  also  also  studied  at  Amster- 
dam.    In  1727,  at  the  age  of  nineteen,  he  took  his  doc- 
tor's degree  at  Leyden.     He  then  went  to  England,  where 
he  met  prominent  physicians  and  inspected  their  hospitals. 
Then  he  went  to   Paris  and   Basle.     There  he   studied 
mathematics  under  the  elder  Bernoulli,  the  great  mathe- 
matician, who  introduced  him  to  the  new  mathematics  of 
Newton  and  Leibnitz.     While  there  he   frequently   de- 
livered lectures  in  place  of  the  professor  of  anatomy, 
who  was  unwell.     He  then  returned  to  Bern,  where  he 
began  the  practice  of  medicine.     But  his  years  belied  him. 
The  boy  doctor  was  too  young  to  gain  the  confidence  of 
the  people,  who   wanted  older,  experienced   physicians. 
Still  his  practice  was  not  without  success,  as  his  diary 
shows.     But  medicine  could  not  hold  him,  he  reached 
out  beyond  it.     No  one  profession  was  large  enough  for 
him.     In   1732  he  began  publishing  his  poems.     These 
soon  gave  him  wide  reputation,  especially  his  poem  on 
the  Alps,  which  painted  so  magnificently  the  majesty  and 
beauty  of  the  Bernese  Alps.     He  was  the  first  Swiss  poet 
of  nature,  in  that  respect,  like  Wordsworth.     Most  of 
his  poems  were  of  this  period.     His  poem  on  the  "Origin 
of  Evil,"  showed  the  daring  of  a  youth  in  trying  to  solve 
one  of  the  greatest  of  mysteries.     His  poems  reveal  great 
moral  earnestness  and  a  grasp  far  beyond  his  years. 

In  1734  he  tried  to  get  the  professorship  of  oratory 
and  Latin  at  Bern,  but  failed.  The  Bernese  thought  a 
physician  was  not  fitted  for  such  a  position.  Indeed  they 
failed  almost  all  through  his  life  to  appreciate  Haller's 
greatness.     Many  thought  he  was  too  much  of  a  poet  to 


BERN  267 

be  a  good  physician  and  vice  versa.  They  did  not  know 
that  while  ordinary  medical  men  could  fill  only  one  such 
position,  they  had  in  Haller  a  man  of  such  calibre,  that  he 
could  fill  a  number  of  such  positions.  They  did  not  know 
they  had  in  him  a  genius  of  more  than  ordinary  mould. 
But  afterward,  Bern  appointed  him  physician  of  the 
island  hospital  there,  and  he  was  permitted  to  erect  an 
anatomical  auditorium  (then  a  new  thing),  in  the  Grosse 
Schanze,  where  he  dissected  bodies  and  delivered  lectures. 
He  was  also  made  librarian  of  the  city  library  (1735). 
He  entered  on  this  work  with  great  diligence,  and  in  less 
than  a  year  had  made  a  catalogue  of  its  books,  manu- 
scripts and  coins. 

But  though  his  own  city  did  not  sufficiently  recognize 
his  ability,  other  lands  did.  The  University  of  Upsala, 
in  Sweden,  in  1734,  made  him  a  member  of  their  academy 
of  sciences,  and  in  1736  he  was  called  by  King  George, 
of  Hanover,  to  be  professor  of  medicine  and  the  natural 
sciences  in  the  newly-founded  university  at  Gottingen. 
He  accepted,  and  taught  there  for  seventeen  years.  As 
he  entered  Gottingen  he  sustained  a  great  loss.  The 
wagon,  containing  his  wife,  was  overturned  and  she  was 
so  injured  that  she  died  shortly  afterward.  But  the  uni- 
versity was  always  very  thoughtful  of  Haller's  wishes. 
In  order  to  comfort  him  for  the  loss  of  his  wife,  one 
of  his  most  intimate  friends  from  Switzerland,  Dr.  Jacob 
Huber,  of  Basle,  was  also  called  as  professor.  It  also 
gave  him  everything  he  desired.  It  built  for  him  an  ana- 
tomical lecture-room,  laid  out  a  botanical  garden  for  him 
and  built  his  house  opposite  to  it,  so  that  he  might  most 
easily  go  to  it  for  plant-study.  The  king  made  him  his 
court-physician  and  when  the  king  visited  Gottingen 
in  1748,  without  Haller's  knowledge,  he  elevated  him  to 
the  nobility  by  making  him  a  baron.  Hence  he  was  after- 
ward called  Albert  von  Haller,  which  was  a  sign  of  no- 
bility.    At  the   same   time,   Count   Radziwill,  the   com- 


268  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

mander  of  the  Polish  army,  appointed  him  major  general. 

While  at  Gottingen  he  published  the  works  of  his 
teacher,  Boerhaave,  and  also  one  of  his  own  greatest 
works,  his  physiology,  which  was  used  in  most  of  the 
universities  and  passed  through  many  editions.  While 
there,  King  Frederick  the  Great,  of  Prussia,  in  1749, 
invited  him  to  Berlin,  offering  him  whatever  he  might 
demand.  It  seems  Frederick  wanted  Voltaire  and  Haller 
there  at  the  same  time.  One  wonders  what  would  have 
happened  had  he  gone  to  be  a  professor  of  the  great 
infidel  king.  Certain  it  is  that  Voltaire  would  have  more 
than  met  his  match  in  science.  For  Voltaire  was  super- 
ficial, compared  with  Haller's  thoroughness.  The  vapid 
theories  of  Voltaire's  philosophy  were  no  match  for  the 
thoroughgoing  science  of  Haller.  Frederick,  to  get  him, 
offered  him  the  hope  of  being  given  charge  of  all  the 
medical  affairs  in  all  the  Prussian  kingdom.  But  he 
refused,  saying  to  a  friend :  "Do  you  think  that  a  Chris- 
tian, who  believes  in  the  religion  of  Jesus  and  recognizes 
it  from  his  heart,  could  go  to  Potsdam  between  the  king 
and  Voltaire."  So  he  remained  at  Gottingen  and  the 
King  of  Hanover  started  an  academy  of  sciences  there, 
and  Haller  was  made  its  president.  It  was  largely  due 
to  Haller's  labors  that  Gottingen  outdistanced  the  other 
universities  of  her  time  and  rose  to  rival  Leyden,  the 
leading  university  of  Europe.  At  Gottingen  he  founded 
the  first  clinic  for  midwives,  for  which  he  was  called 
Albert  the  Great. 

While  at  Gottingen  he  showed  great  interest  in  re- 
ligion, by  causing  the  building  of  the  Reformed  Church. 
As  Hanover  was  a  Lutheran  land,  the  Reformed  who 
lived  there  had  to  go  to  Hesse  Cassel  for  their  worship 
and  sacraments.  Haller  longed  for  the  simple  faith  and 
worship  of  his  fathers,  so  he  gathered  together  the  Re- 
formed who  lived  there,  into  a  congregation.  And  largely 
through  his  influence,  they  were  able  to  build  a  church, 


BERN  269 

the  Bern  council  contributing  100  reichsthalers  to  it, 
doubtless  through  Haller's  influence.  It  was  built  oppo- 
site his  house.  And  when  it  was  dedicated,  in  1753,  he 
declared  that  that  was  the  happiest  day  of  his  life.  The 
church  and  congregation  still  remain  there  as  a  monu- 
ment of  his  interest  and  faith.  During  his  stay  there, 
he  also  took  an  interest  in  foreign  mission  work,  then 
in  its  infancy,  and  looked  upon  with  suspicion  by  many 
leaders  in  the  church.  He  became  especially  interested  in 
the  Danish  missions  in  southern  India. 

In  March,  1753,  he  resigned  at  Gottingen  and  re- 
turned to  Bern  on  account  of  ill  health,  the  jealousy  of 
some  of  his  colleagues  and  because  of  his,  the  true  Swiss 
love,  for  his  native  land.  He  had  been  elected  by  Bern 
a  member  of  the  Council  of  Two  Hundred,  the  lower 
council.  No  favor  of  prince  or  university  so  pleased 
him  as  this.  Bern  made  him  inspector  of  the  city  hall 
(I753"58)  and  a  member  of  the  academical  senate.  He 
practiced  medicine,  but  mainly  as  a  consulting  physician. 
Bern  made  him  (1758-64)  the  director  of  the  salt  works 
of  the  canton,  during  which  time  he  lived  at  the  castle 
of  Roche,  near  Aigle.  There  his  knowledge  of  chemistry 
was  of  great  value  in  enabling  him  to  lessen  the  cost  of 
producing  the  salt,  while  at  the  same  time  improving  its 
quality.  While  there  he  learned  to  know  Voltaire  by 
correspondence.  During  his  stay  there,  always  thought- 
ful of  the  church,  he  called  the  attention  of  the  author- 
ities to  the  insufficiency  of  the  salaries  of  the  ministers  in 
the  Vaud  district,  and  the  government  raised  their  sal- 
aries. He  returned  to  Bern  and  became  a  member  of 
the  school  board,  sanitary  council  and  upper  appeal  court. 
He  had  been  nominated  five  times  for  the  lesser  council, 
which  was  the  highest  honor  of  the  city,  but  was  always 
defeated.  Bern  thus  failed  to  honor  her  noblest  son. 
But  Bern  was  a  republic  and  republics  have  little  to  offer. 
Still  even  the  best  she  had  she  withheld  from  him.    For 


270  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

Bern  was  governed  by  a  close  aristocracy  of  patricians 
and  Haller  was  not  one  of  them.  Besides  some  of  them 
had  been  piqued  by  his  satires  and  were  suspicious  of  his 
more  liberal  spirit,  so  he  was  defeated  (once  by  only  one 
vote).  When  he  was  defeated  the  last  time  there  came 
a  great  temptation  to  him  to  leave  Bern.  King  Fred- 
erick the  Great,  of  Prussia,  again  made  overtures  to  him 
to  come  to  the  University  of  Halle.  And  the  King  of 
England  again  called  him  back  to  Gottingen,  offering 
him  the  chancellorship.  He  held  the  call  under  advise- 
ment for  a  long  time.  Mkny  urged  him  to  go,  because 
of  the  lack  of  appreciation  in  Bern  and  the  unpleasant- 
nesses that  embittered  his  life  there.  Finally  he  asked 
the  King  of  England  to  appeal  to  the  senate  of  Bern  to 
let  him  go.  Then  at  last,  Bern  woke  up  to  the  danger  of 
losing  him.  The  council  settled  a  permanent  annual  sal- 
ary of  1,000  florins  on  him,  and  declared  he  must  always 
be  kept  at  Bern.  Other  calls  came  to  him,  as  to  St. 
Petersburg,  but  he  declined. 

At  Bern  he  did  much  good.  He  laid  the  foundation 
of  an  orphanage,  and  led  to  the  improvement  of  the  hos- 
pital. For  several  years  before  his  death  he  was  sickly 
and  inclined  toward  melancholy.  In  the  last  year  of  his 
life,  he  was  surprised  by  a  visit  from  the  Austrian  Em- 
peror, Joseph  II,  then  a  crown-prince.  The  latter's 
mother,  the  Empress  Maria  Theresa,  had  ordered  her  son 
in  his  journeys  not  to  visit  Voltaire,  but  to  call  on  Haller. 
And  he  went  considerably  out  of  his  way  to  do  so,  at  the 
same  time  disappointing  and  humiliating  Voltaire,  because 
Voltaire  had  heard  of  his  coming  and  waited,  with  pow- 
dered wig  and  a  big  dinner,  for  his  visit.  But  Joseph 
passed  him  by  on  his  way  to  Bern.  He  found  Haller  sick 
and  weak,  but  surrounded  by  books  and  papers.  He  in- 
quired whether  his  labors  were  not  too  severe.  Haller 
replied  that  they  were  his  only  recreation  in  which  he 
forgot  his  pain.     "Do  you  still  write  poetry?''  he  asked. 


BERN 


271 


"That  was  the  sin  of  my  youth,"  replied  Haller,  playfully, 
"Only  Voltaire  writes  poetry  at  eighty."  As  the  prince 
left,  he  said,  "Behold  a  genius  allied  with  virtue."  A 
neighboring  clergyman  called  to  see  Haller  soon  after 
the  prince  was  there  and  congratulated  him  on  the  visit 
of  so  great  a  man.  The  aged  Haller  replied,  "Rejoice 
rather  that  your  names  are  written  in  heaven."  His 
eyes  were  fixed  on  heavenly,  not  earthly  honors.  He 
died  December  12,  1777,  at  the  age  of  seventy.*  In 
December,  1777,  he  wrote  in  his  journal:  "In  all  proba- 
bility this  is  the  last  time  that  I  shall  employ  my  pen.  I 
can  not  deny  that  the  near  view  of  my  Judge  fills  me 
with  apprehension.  How  can  I  stand  before  him,  inas- 
much as  I  am  not  prepared  for  eternity  as  it  seems  to 
me  a  Christian  should  be.  O  my  Saviour,  be  Thou  my 
Advocate  and  Mediator  in  the  solemn  hour.  Grant  me 
the  aid  of  Thy  Holy  Spirit  to  lead  me  through  the  dark 
valley  that  I  may  triumphantly  and  full  of  faith  exclaim 
as  Thou  my  Saviour  didst,  'It  is  finished,  into  thy  hands 
I  commend  my  spirit.'  "  "My  friend,"  he  said  to  his 
physician,  "I  am  dying,  my  pulse  ceases  to  beat,"  and 
passed  away.  Saussure,  the  great  Swiss  scientist  and 
Alpine  climber,  thus  bears  this  tribute  of  him : 

"When  I  saw  him,  in  1764,  I  was  then  24  years  of  age, 
and  I  had  never  beheld  before,  nor  have  I  ever  since 
beheld,  a  man  of  his  stamp.  It  is  impossible  to  express 
the  admiration,  the  respect,  I  was  going  to  say,  the  feeling 
of  adoration,  with  which  the  great  man  inspired  me. 
What  truth,  what  variety,  what  riches,  what  depth,  what 
clearness  in  his  ideas.  His  conversation  was  animated, 
not  with  that  factitious  fire  that  dazzles  and  fatigues  at 
the  same  time,  but  with  the  soft  and  profound  warmth 
which  penetrates  yon,  raises  a  glow  within  you  and  ap- 
pears to  raise  you  to  a  level  with  him  who  is  conversing 
with  you.  The  week  I  passed  with  him  left  indelible 
traces  on  my  soul.     His  conversation  inflamed  me  with 

*  His  house  still  stands  in  the  Inselgasse,  Bern. 


272  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

the  love  of  study.  I  passed  the  nights  in  meditating  on, 
and  in  writing,  what  he  had  said  during  the  day.  I  left 
him  with  the  most  lively  regret  and  our  acquaintance 
ended  only  with  his  too  brief  life." 

Bonstetten,  disposed  as  he  was  to  draw  satirical  por- 
traits, speaks  in  most  flattering  terms  of  Haller.  "Noth- 
ing is  finer  than  his  glance,  which  is  both  piercing  and 
sensitive.  Genius  shone  in  his  beautiful  eyes.  Of  all 
men  I  knew,  he  was  the  most  spiritual  and  the  most 
amiable.  His  immense  knowledge  had  all  the  grace  of 
impromptu." 

Haller's  fame  rests  largely  on  his  career  as  a  scien- 
tist. He  was  a  great  linguist,  speaking  many  languages. 
He  revolutionized  medicine.  This  was  due  to  his  experi- 
ments in  vivisection.  Before  his  day,  anatomy  and  phys- 
iology were  much  of  a  guess.  He  reduced  their  prin- 
ciples to  a  certainty  by  his  experiments  on  animals.  His 
predecessors  had  done  this  on  dead  animals.  He  claimed 
it  must  be  done  on  live  ones,  so  as  to  find  out  the  true 
way  of  treating  the  living  body.  As  that  was  before  the 
days  of  anesthetics,  his  experiments  were  very  painful 
to  the  animals.  But  by  his  experiments  he  discovered  a 
new  world,  the  world  of  bodily  sensation,  almost  as  great 
a  discovery  as  Harvey's  circulation  of  the  blood.  His 
works  on  anatomy  and  physiology  made  him  famous.  He 
introduced  a  new  method  into  botany  and  his  "History  of 
Swiss  Plants"  is  monumental,  giving  2,486  kinds.  He 
wrote,  it  is  said,  12,000  articles.  His  greatness  in  learning 
is  shown  by  the  fact  that  twenty-one  societies  of  learning 
made  him  a  member  during  his  lifetime.  Alexander  von 
Humboldt  called  him  the  greatest  of  the  investigators  of 
nature. 

His  fame  as  a  poet  is  also  great.  He  was  the  first 
great  poet  of  nature  in  Switzerland,  as  Wordsworth  was 
in  English.  Goethe  calls  his  "Alps"  a  great  and  earnest 
poem.     It  was  the  beginning  of  the  naturalistic  poetry 


BERN 


273 


of  Switzerland.     His  poems  were  of  a  high  religious  and 
moral  tone. 

HALLER'S  LAMENT  ON  THE  DEATH  OF  HIS 
FIRST  WIFE 

Oh !  with  my  heart  of  hearts  I've  loved ! 

Deeper  than  to  myself  expressed, — 
Deeper  than  e'er  by  worlding  proved, — 

Deeper  than  to  myself  confessed! 
How  often  did  my  trembling  heart 

An  answer  to  its  bodings  seek, 
That  still  would  ask,  "And  must  we  part?" 

Till  tears  bedewed  my   furrowed  cheek! 

Yes !  still  its  woe  my  heart  shall  feel, 

Though  time  the  trenchant  scar  may  close : 
And  bitt'rer  tears  their  course  shall  steal, 

Than  those  that  outward  sorrow  knows ! 
First  passion  of  my  ardent  youth ! 

The  memory  of  thy  tenderness, 
Thy  guilelessness,  thy  artless  truth, 

Like  Eden  visions  'round  me  press ! 

'Mid  thickest  wild,  'mid  gloomy  shade, 

Thy  image  fancy  shall  pursue ; 
Thy  form  shall  mem'ry  all  pervade, 

And  bid  me  wake  to  love  anew ! 
Lo!  as  thou  wert  thou  dost  return, 

As  sad  as  when  I  wont  to  stray: 
As  warmly  do  thy  kisses  burn. 

As  when  I  bent  my  homeward  way. 

'Mid  the  obscurest  depths  of  space, 

Wher'er  thou  wander'st  distant  far, 
Thy  footsteps  still  I  fondly  trace, 

Beyond  where  glides  the  farthest  star. 
There,  in  thine  innocence  endued, 

Thou  sharest  heaven's  holiest,  brightest  light: 
Where  mind  with  heavenly  strength  renewed, 

Assays  a  bolder,  nobler  flight ! 

18 


274  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

There  thou  dost  bask  in  light  of  Him, 

Whose  love  thy  happiness  prepares, 
And  minglest  with  the  angels'  hymn, 

For  earthborn  loves  thy  tender  prayer ! 
There,  in  the  book  of  love  divine, 

Thou  read'st  how  best  of  friends  must  part, 
And  mark'st  how  mercy  doth  assign 

The  future  of  thy  earthly  part. 

Perfected  soul !  beloved  below, 

Yet  not  beloved  as  was  thy  due, 
How  dark  my  ravished  bosom  glow, 

To  mark  that  soul's  celestial  hue ! 
With  eager  hope  my  heart  is  fired ! 

Ope  wide  thy  arms !     To  thee  I  fly, 
In  peaceful  love,  by  heaven  inspired, 

With  thee  to  dwell  eternally ! 

Eleven  editions  of  his  poems  were  published  during 
his  lifetime  and  they  were  translated  into  other  lan- 
guages. Schiller  thought  so  highly  of  them,  that  when 
he  fled  from  Stuttgart  the  only  books  he  took  with  him 
were  his  Shakespeare  and  his  Haller. 

But  it  is  especially  to  Haller,  as  the  Christian,  that 
we  wish  to  refer.  He  was  the  great  apologist  of  re- 
ligion in  a  day  when  defenders  were  few.  His  advocacy 
of  the  old  faith  brought  down  on  him  the  attacks  of  the 
rationalists  of  his  day.  Thus  La  Mettrie,  the  blatant 
materialist,  published  his  work,  "Man  a  Machine"  (1747). 
which  reduced  man  to  a  machine  and  took  all  the  spir- 
itual out  of  him.  He  had  the  audacity  to  dedicate  it  to 
Haller,  saying  it  was  founded  on  some  principles  dis- 
covered by  Haller.  Haller  felt  greatly  insulted  to  find 
his  name  at  the  beginning  of  a  book  that  denied  the 
fundamentals  of  religion  and  denied  that  he  had  had  any 
relations  with  La  Mettrie.  Thereupon  the  latter  pub- 
lished a  story  of  the  most  absurd  character,  stating  that 
he  had  attended  Haller's  lectures  at  Gottingen  in  1735 
(Haller  did  not  go  to  Gottingen  till   1736),  and  told  a 


BERN 


275 


burlesque  story  of  the  austere  Haller  figuring  in  scenes 
most  foreign  to  his  habits,  among  others  presiding  at  a 
supper  of  the  nymphs,  who  frequented  the  gardens  of 
Gottingen.  Haller  protested  against  this  travesty  to  the 
president  of  the  Academy  of  Sciences,  at  Berlin,  of  which 
both  La  Mettrie  and  himself  were  members.  He  also 
wrote  a  long  refutation  of  the  book.  But  La  Mettrie 
died  before  the  academy  could  act  on  the  matter  or  the 
book  be  published. 

Haller's  two  most  important  defences  of  religion  were 
written  near  the  close  of  his  life.  The  first  was  his 
"Letters  on  the  Most  Important  Truths  of  Revelation" 
(1772).  These  were  a  popular  defence  of  revelation  and 
the  supernatural.  He  came  to  write  them  because  of  an 
incident.  He  was  summoned  by  a  minister  to  the  death- 
bed of  a  prominent  leader  of  Bern,  who  implored  him  to 
write  something  stating  clearly  the  grounds  of  Christian 
belief,  because  Evangelical  religion  was  so  much  attacked 
at  that  time.  His  friend  suggested  that  a  layman  could 
write  with  peculiar  power.  He  published  them  in  the 
shape  of  letters  to  his  daughter.  The  first  of  these  let- 
ters contains  in  the  second  chapter  the  first  question  and 
answer  of  the  Heidelberg  Catechism,  which  was  his  fav- 
orite catechism.  He  had  been  brought  up  in  it  and  it 
was  his  creed.  Its  joyful  way  of  stating  religion  was  a 
fine  keynote  to  the  book.  He  then  goes  on  to  give  the 
fundamental  truths  of  religion,  God,  creation,  fall,  in- 
carnation, mediation  of  Christ,  immortality,  the  truth 
of  the  Bible,  the  reality  of  miracles  and  prophecy.  These 
letters  were  a  monument  of  his  religious  spirit  and  theo- 
logical knowledge.  In  them  he  declares  his  theology 
to  be  the  Bible.  They  proved  to  be  very  popular,  espe- 
cially for  the  young.  And  even  as  late  as  1858,  Professor 
Auberlen,  of  Basle,  had  them  reprinted  as  a  suitable 
reply  to  the  infidelity  of  the  nineteenth  century  as  they 
had  been  to  the  eighteenth. 


276  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

The  second  defense  of  Haller's  was  his  "Letters 
against  the  Free  Thinkers"  (1775).  It  is  directed 
against  La  Mettrie,  Voltaire  and  the  philosophers  of  the 
Encyclopedia,  Diderot  and  D'Alembert.  To  Haller  the 
denial  of  God  was  fundamental  and  destroyed  both  re- 
ligion and  ethics.  But  his  great  aim  was  not  merely 
to  answer  their  arguments,  but  to  save  their  souls,  and 
in  one  of  them  he  gives  a  most  beautiful  prayer  for  the 
salvation  of  Voltaire's  soul.  One  is  surprised  that  so 
great  a  natural  philosopher  does  not  use  arguments  from 
nature,  but  he  seems  to  avoid  them,  perhaps  because  the 
prevailing  deistic  philosophy  of  the  time  made  so  much 
use  of  them  to  set  aside  the  Bible.  He  claimed  the  Bible, 
and  not  nature,  was  his  proof. 

Both  books  reveal  a  remarkable  combination  of  im- 
pressiveness  and  familiarity  with  religion,  coming  as  they 
did  from  a  layman  and  scientist.  They  exerted  great  in- 
fluence. He,  with  Newton  and  Euler,  proves  that  the 
most  exact  sciences  do  not  necessarily  shake  our  faith 
in  revelation.  He  proved  what  seemed  strange  to  many  in 
those  days,  that  a  natural  philosopher  could  be  a  defender 
of  religion. 

A  third  important  book,  revealing  Haller's  religion, 
was  his  "Diary,"  published  some  years  after  his  death,  as 
a  reply  to  one  of  his  biographers,  who  had  charged  him 
with  being  a  secret  Catholic.  His  diary  extends  from 
1734  to  1777,  the  date  of  his  death.  Of  course,  he  never 
dreamt  of  its  publication  and  it  is  therefore  all  the  more 
valuable  as  revealing  his  inner  life.  It  reveals  him  as  a 
very  pious  man.  It  stands  out  in  contrast  with  Ros- 
seau's  Confessions  and  his  sentimental  vagaries,  for  here 
is  a  strong,  firm  faith  in  God  as  his  refuge.  His  diary 
has  been  well  compared  with  Lavater's,  in  its  deep  Chris- 
tian spirit.  It  reveals  that  with  him  religion  was  an  in- 
stinct, entering  into  all  his  spheres  of  life.  However,  it  has 
been  well  said,  that  his  piety  was  mainly  of  an  ethical 


BERN 


277 


character  rather  than  experimental.  To  great  conscien- 
tiousness he  joined  deep  humility  on  account  of  his  sense 
of  sin.  But  at  the  same  time  he  rejoiced  continually,  as 
in  the  presence  of  God.  To  him,  naturalist  as  he  was, 
nature  was  not  the  end  as  with  so  many  scientists,  but 
God.  While  clinging  closely  to  the  old  orthodoxy,  he 
was  yet  liberal  in  spirit.  And  yet  there  was  one  exception 
to  this.  He  could  not  endure  the  Catholics,  because  of 
the  corruption  of  their  hierarchy  and  of  their  persecuting 
spirit,  for  the  sufferings  of  the  Waldensian  refugees  had 
deeply  impressed  him  as  a  boy. 

Haller  was  a  many-sided  character,  but  religion 
pervaded  it  all.  Two  men  stand  out  in  strong  contrast 
in  Switzerland  at  that  time.  Both  were  poets,  scholars, 
litterateurs  and  scientists.  But  the  one,  Voltaire,  was  the 
skeptic,  the  other,  Haller,  was  the  Christian.  By  the 
greatness  of  his  learning  and  the  firmness  of  his  faith, 
Haller  destroyed  the  influence  of  Voltaire.  Maria  Ther- 
esa was  right  when  she  told  her  son  to  pass  Ferney,  for 
Bern,  for  the  Henriade  of  Voltaire  is  forgotten,  but  Hal- 
lers  "Alps"  still  lives.  He  has  been  compared  to  Leib- 
nitz, because  he  was  epochmaking  in  thought,  for  nothing 
seemed  to  escape  his  eagle  eye.  Universal,  like  Voltaire, 
he  was  profound  like  Leibnitz.  As  Lessing  says,  "Hal- 
ler belonged  to  the  fortunate  learned,  who  even  in  this 
life,  gain  such  a  fame  as  few  gain  after  death." 


CHAPTER  IV 

Geneva 

The  church  of  Geneva  and  of  Calvin,  once  the  Ther- 
mopylae of  the  Reformed  faith  and  the  stronghold  of 
Calvinistic  orthodoxy,  now  goes  into  eclipse.  Ortho- 
doxy gives  way  to  Socinianism.  Instead  of  J.  Alphonse 
Turretin  now  came  Vernet  and  his  successors.  The 
descent  at  Geneva  is  greater  than  at  Zurich,  for  at  Zurich 
a  very  respectable  minority  contended  for  the  old  faith, 
even  though  the  antistes  was  a  rationalist.  But  at  Gen- 
eva, the  Evangelicals  became  so  crushed  that  early  in 
the  nineteenth  century  hardly  a  witness  for  orthodoxy 
could  be  found.  And  too,  Voltaire,  the  arch-infidel  of 
his  day,  and  Rosseau,  whose  only  religion  was  nature,  ap- 
peared about  the  same  time  at  Geneva,  to  aid  the  move- 
ment toward  infidelity.  It  is  true  the  Church  of  Geneva 
protested  against  the  errors  of  these  men,  but  a  Socinian 
church  can  make  only  a  weak  defence  against  men  from 
whom  she  differed  so  little.  In  1709  Geneva  had  pun- 
ished a  man  for  being  a  deist.  By  the  end  of  the  eigh- 
teenth century  she,  herself,  becomes  virtually  Socinian, 
which  is  very  close  to  deism. 

Section  i 

the  downgrade  at  geneva 

Changes  were  everywhere  the  order  of  the  day  at 
Geneva.  There  were  changes  in  the  creeds.  We  have 
already  noticed  how  the  Helvetic  Consensus  and  the  Hel- 
vetic Confession  were  set  aside  and  the  subscription  since 
1706  was  only  to  the  Old  and  New  Testament,  and  to 

278 


GENEVA 


279 


Calvin's  catechism.  Had  Geneva  stopped  there,  she 
would  have  done  well.  But  in  1725  action  was  taken 
making  the  catechism  of  Calvin  no  longer  the  legal  oath 
for  subscription,  but  only  for  the  foundation  of  doctrine. 
The  church  became  confessionless. 

The  catechism,  as  well  as  the  creeds,  changed.  Other 
catechisms  came  in  to  replace  Calvin's,  some  Arminian, 
some  rationalistic.  Osterwald's,  in  1731,  supplanted  Cal- 
vin's and  differed  from  it  mainly  by  omitting  original  sin 
and  predestination.  In  1742  a  motion  to  set  aside  Cal- 
vin's catechism  was  voted  down.  In  1770  Vernet  pro- 
posed that  Osterwald's  should  take  its  place,  but  Calvin's 
was  used  to  some  extent  till  1780.  But  other  catechisms, 
as  Vernes'  (1774)  and  Martin's,  came  into  use.  Prof. 
Anton  Maurice,  the  last  remaining  outspoken  Calvinist, 
attacked  Vernes'  catechism,  in  1781,  and  the  whole  edi- 
tion was  suppressed.  But  liberalism  triumphed  over  him, 
for  in  1787  the  Venerable  Company  ordered  a  revision  of 
Osterwald's  catechism,  by  Vernes.  This  official  cate- 
chism of  Vernes  was  published  (1788)  and  went  beyond 
Osterwald  into  rationalism.  (Thus  Osterwald  held  to 
the  historical  account  of  the  fall  of  Eden,  but  Vernes 
had  not  a  word  to  say  about  the  fall,  only  that  Eden  was 
a  beautiful  place.  Osterwald  taught  the  trinity,  Vernes 
not  only  left  it  out,  but  to  still  farther  efface  it,  gave 
a  four-fold  division  of  the  Apostles'  Creed,  which  is  un- 
doubtedly trinitarian  in  its  divisions.  This  catechism 
calls  Jesus  the  unique  Son  of  God,  because  of  his  mirac- 
ulous birth,  the  excellence  of  his  nature  and  his  intimate 
union  with  God.  Therefore,  he  was  designated  by  the 
Jews  as  Messiah.  But  it  does  not  call  him  God.  Thus 
the  catechism  of  1788  led  still  farther  into  heterodoxy.) 
What  made  its  influence  so  pernicious  was  that  it  was 
not  only  adopted  by  the  Venerable  Company,  but  its  use 
was  made  obligatory.  The  ministers  had  no  option  but 
to  use  it.     They  could  not  use  an  Evangelical  catechism, 


28o  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

and  so  the  youth  grew  up  ignorant  of  the  Gospel.  Thus 
the  rationalists  forced  their  book  on  the  few  Evangeli- 
cals who  remained  in  Geneva.  Later,  when  the  cate- 
chism of  1814  was  adopted,  it  contained  no  doctrine  of 
redemption,  ignored  the  divinity  of  Christ,  by  repre- 
senting him  simply  as  an  ambassador  from  heaven,  the 
first-born  of  every  creature,  whom  we  should  not  wor- 
ship, only  reverence. 

But  not  only  was  the  catechism  changed,  but  the 
Scriptures  also.  The  old  French  version  of  Olivetan 
had  long  been  used,  but  Martin  revised  it  (1723)  and  the 
Martin  version  was  then  used,  as  also  Ostervvald's. 
Then,  after  gathering  together  material  for  three-quarters 
of  a  century,  the  Venerable  Company  published  a  new 
translation  in  1805.  This  is  remarkable  in  being  the  only 
rationalistic  version  of  the  Bible,  except  perhaps  a  Uni- 
tarian version  in  English.  This  version  was  deliber- 
ately made  as  rationalistic  as  possible.  It  claimed  to  be 
a  literal  translation,  but  the  letter  killeth  the  spirit  and 
criticism  often  runs  riot  with  truth.  Thus,  in  the  first 
chapter  of  Genesis,  it  reads:  "A  wind  (not  'the  Spirit' 
as  in  our  version)  stirred  up  the  face  of  the  waters." 
Wherever  it  could,  it  lowered  the  supernatural.  When 
there  was  a  choice  of  readings,  it  used  those  against 
orthodoxy,  even  if  the  latter  were  supported  by  a  better 
text.  Thus  Isaiah  9:5  has,  instead  of  the  "Father  of 
Eternity,"  "Father  of  the  age  to  come."  In  John  3 :  36, 
"he  that  believeth"  is  translated  by  "he  that  is  obedient" 
(which  is  quite  different  from  the  original),  for  they  did 
not  want  to  give  any  chance  to  the  doctrine  of  justifica- 
tion by  faith.  All  these  reveal  such  liberties  with  the 
text  as  to  make  the  translation  valueless.  Yet  it  was  the 
official  version  of  Geneva.  It  was  considered  so  hetero- 
dox that  the  churches  of  France  repudiated  its  use.  It 
is  a  sad  fact  that  the  only  church  that  published  a  ra- 
tionalistic Bible  was  Geneva,  the  home  of  Calvin.     And 


GENEVA  281 

the  tyranny  of  the  rationalists  is  shown  by  their  making 
its  use  obligatory.  Such  was  the  freedom  of  rationalism. 
In  1835  they  published  a  new  edition  of  this,  at  the 
Reformation  festival,  which  seemed  a  travesty  on  the 
Reformers,  because  it  denied  their  fundamental  doc- 
trines. 

The  liturgy  also  sympathized  with  these  changes.  It 
had  been  said  by  German  liturgists  that  rationalism  short- 
ened or  set  aside  the  use  of  set-forms  in  favor  of  free 
worship.  This  was  not  true  in  Switzerland,  especially 
in  Geneva.  Rationalism  there  did  the  opposite, — it  set 
aside  free  prayer  and  made  all  the  service  liturgical,  and 
enlarged  the  forms.  Often,  as  the  heart  goes  out  of  the 
religion  through  rationalism,  the  forms  come  in.  In- 
deed, it  sometimes  seems  as  if  rationalism,  by  an  increased 
use  of  forms  for  worship,  were  trying  to  make  up  for 
what  it  felt  itself  lacking  in  doctrine.  It  is  true  changes 
in  the  liturgy  began  even  under  Alphonse  Turretin.  In 
1717  Turretin  had  the  free  prayer  before  and  after  the 
sermon,  customary  since  the  Reformation,  replaced  by  a 
prescribed  prayer.  In  1737  confirmation  was  introduced. 
Still  the  liturgy  clung  to  the  old  doctrines  longer  even 
than  many  of  the  ministers  did  in  their  sermons.  Even 
when  the  old  Evangelical  doctrines  were  no  longer  in  the 
sermon,  they  could  still  be  found  in  the  liturgical  prayers 
and  the  hymns.  Most  of  the  old  Reformed  doctrines 
found  a  place  until  near  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury. Then  the  most  severe  parts  of  Beza's  famous  con- 
fession of  sin  were  left  out.  The  edition  of  1743  had  the 
phrase,  "the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ  will  cleanse  us  from  all 
sin,"  but  the  edition  of  1807  left  it  out.  Empeytaz  said 
of  this  liturgy  that  it  designated  Christ  by  terms  that 
did  not  imply  his  divinity. 

Thus,  in  every  way,  rationalism  and  Socinianism  en- 
trenched itself  at  Geneva.  Voltaire  declared  he  would 
destroy  the  church.     He  did  not  need  to  do  it,  the  church 


282  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

was  gradually  destroying  itself.  Nevertheless,  as  we 
shall  see  in  the  next  part  of  this  book,  the  church,  like  her 
Lord,  always  has  the  power  of  resurrection.  Even  when 
she  seems  to  be  dead,  often  under  God's  Spirit  a  reaction 
takes  place,  which  produces  a  revival. 

Section  2 

prof.  jacob  vernet 

After  the  death  of  J.  Alphonse  Turretin,  his  suc- 
cessor, Jacob  Vernet,  became  the  theological  leader  of 
Geneva  for  a  half  century.  He  was  born  August  29, 
1698.     His  decision  to  enter  the  ministry  is  interesting. 

"When  I  was  a  boy,"  he  says,  "I  saw  the  celebrated 
Prof.  B.  Pictet,  who  asked  of  me  the  residence  of  an  aged 
and  dying  lady,  who  desired  his  visit.  I  led  him  to  the 
place,  and  with  the  curiosity  of  a  child  I  stayed  in  the 
chamber  to  hear  him.  His  words,  and  especially  his 
prayer,  overturned  my  soul.  Her  figure,  deeply  pained 
by  the  malady,  little  by  little  gained  a  calm  and  celestial 
expression.  This  caused  in  me  an  indescribable  emotion 
and  I  resolved  to  devote  myself  to  the  ministry,  of  which 
the  blessings  were  so  manifest  on  those  suffering." 

He  studied  theology  in  Geneva,  and  then  became 
private  tutor  in  Paris  (1720-29).  In  company  with 
Mark  Turretin,  the  son  of  J.  Alphonse  Turretin,  he  vis- 
ited Germany,  Holland  and  England.  In  1739  he  was 
made  professor  of  literature  and  history,  and  in  1750,  at 
the  death  of  Turretin,  professor  of  theology.  He  claimed 
to  stand  on  Turretin's  shoulders  theologically,  but  he  went 
beyond  him  from  orthodoxy. 

As  leader  of  Geneva  at  that  time,  he  came  into  con- 
tact with  Voltaire.  He  had  met  Voltaire  while  at  Paris, 
and  since  that  time  had  had  some  correspondence  with 
him.  When  Voltaire  came  to  Geneva,  he  flattered  Ver- 
net, declaring  that  he  wanted  to  be  near  him,  so  as  to 
consult  him,  and  that  he  preferred  his  friendship  above 


GENEVA  283 

that  of  Frederick  the  Great.  When  Voltaire  began  his 
attacks  on  the  Genevan  Church,  it  became  his  duty  to  de- 
fend the  church  against  him.  For  this  Voltaire  unmerci- 
fully lampooned  him.  Voltaire  wrote  "Robert  Coville,"  in 
which  he  makes  all  sorts  of  charges  against  Vernet,  as  of 
immorality,  theft  of  manuscripts,  literary  intrigues,  etc. 
Vernet,  greatly  insulted,  demanded  an  investigation  be- 
for  the  council,  and  the  council  cleared  him.  Voltaire 
wanted  Vernet  to  compromise,  and  Vernet,  to  set  matters 
right,  went  to  Ferney,  where  Voltaire  lived,  to  see  him. 
Voltaire  received  him  politely  and  seemed  to  recognize 
his  errors.  As  Vernet  was  about  to  leave  for  Geneva, 
Voltaire  asked  him  to  make  use  of  his  carriage,  which 
was  standing  there.  Vernet  stepped  into  the  carriage. 
But  when  he  arrived  at  the  city  wall,  not  wishing  to  ex- 
pose himself  to  the  crowd  that  always  gathered  around 
Voltaire's  carriage,  to  see  what  distinguished  stranger 
Voltaire  had  been  entertaining,  he  called  to  the  coach- 
man to  stop,  and  he  would  alight.  But  the  coachman, 
having  been  previously  directed  by  Voltaire  not  to  stop 
till  he  brought  Vernet  to  the  center  of  the  city,  only 
whipped  up  his  horses.  When  the  carriage  stopped  in 
Geneva  a  crowd  gathered  and  were  quite  surprised  to 
see  Vernet  step  out  of  Voltaire's  carriage.  He  had  to 
explain  why  he  was  in  Voltaire's  carriage,  and  he  told 
them  he  had  arranged  matters  amicably  with  Voltaire, 
as  Voltaire  had  granted  the  falsity  of  his  charges.  But 
it  did  not  last  long,  for  soon  Voltaire  was  again  satirizing 
him  and  Geneva.     Voltaire  composed  this  verse  on  him : 

"If  I  think  of  a  sinister  face,  a  hideous  forehead,  an  air 
starched  like  a  pendant, 
A  yellow  neck  with  an  inclining  stump,  an  eye  of  pig 

attached  to  earth, 
I  would  declare  to  you  at  once  that  that  monkey  is 
Tartuffe  or  Vernet." 

It  also  became  Vernet's   duty  to  reply  to   Rosseau. 


284  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

They  had  previously  corresponded.  When  Voltaire  so 
violently  attacked  Vernet,  Rosseau  defended  the  latter. 
But  when  the  consistory  denounced  Rosseau's  "New 
Heloise,"  as  a  dangerous  book,  and  the  council  ordered 
the  burning  of  "Emile,"  Rosseau  wrote  against  him  and 
finally  Vernet  replied  severely. 

His  reputation  reached  far  beyond  Geneva.  Thus 
in  1770  the  Presbyterian  Church  of  Nova  Scotia  and 
Philadelphia  asked  of  him  advice  about  church  govern- 
ment and  their  method  of  instruction  in  Geneva.  As  a 
liberal  theologian,  he  counselled  them  to  avoid  dogmatic 
disputes  and  cling  to  the  main  points  of  faith,  especially 
those  that  made  for  practical  piety.  These  churches  evi- 
dently did  not  know  of  the  Socinianism  in  the  Church  of 
Geneva  at  that  time.     He  died  March  26,  1789. 

He  wrote  a  number  of  works,  mainly  apologetical. 
His  most  famous  work  was  his  "Christian  Instruction," 
in  five  volumes.  Its  contents  were  not  originally  intended 
for  publication,  but  were  the  questions  and  answers  he 
had  used  in  his  lecture-room  during  the  many  years  he 
had  taught.  They  reveal  his  departures  from  orthodoxy. 
The  doctrine  of  the  trinity  is  passed  by.  Of  Christ  it  is 
only  said  that  God  was  united  with  him  in  a  very  inti- 
mate way.  The  Holy  Spirit  acts  on  us,  not  in  a  super- 
natural way,  but  naturally.  Original  sin  was  given  up. 
Vicarious  atonement  was  relegated  to  the  region  of 
silence.  He  emphasized  the  ethical  side  of  the  Gospel, 
forgetting  the  Evangelical.  In  his  "Selected  Pamphlets," 
published  1758-77,  he  denied  Christ's  divinity,  though  he 
claimed  not  to  be  a  Socinian,  because  he  placed  Christ's 
nature  above  that  of  men  and  angels.  But  this  was  an 
Arian  position.  He  reveals  how  the  church,  with  him- 
self, had  virtually  gone  into  Socinianism. 


GENEVA  285 

Section  3 
voltaire  and  the  genevan  church 

We  have  noted  the  downgrade  at  Geneva,  from  Beza 
and  his  supralapsarianism,  through  F.  Turretin  and  his 
Cocceianism,  to  J.  Alphonse  Turretin  and  his  liberalism, 
and  finally  to  Vernet  and  his  Socinianism.  Geneva  evi- 
dently wanted  to  get  hold  of  rationalism,  and  she  got  more 
than  she  wanted.  For  God  sent  to  her,  in  Voltaire,  as  he 
had  once  done  to  the  Israelites  of  old,  a  hornet,  to 
scourge  her.  The  attacks  of  Voltaire  on  Christianity, 
and  especially  on  the  Church  of  Geneva,  are  the  most  dia- 
bolical ever  attempted.  And  it  is  also  true  that  the 
Church  of  Geneva,  having,  like  Esau,  sold  her  birthright 
of  Evangelical  Christianity  for  a  mess  of  pottage  of  So- 
cinianism, was  not  in  condition  to  defend  herself.  This 
Voltaire  knew,  and  he  burlesqued  her  before  the  world 
with  awful  power. 

In  1754  Voltaire  came  to  Geneva  from  Germany.  He 
had  just  before  had  a  quarrel  with  Frederick  the  Great, 
King  of  Prussia,  which  had  made  both  infidels  the  laugh- 
ing-stock of  Europe.  Geneva  was  not  very  anxious  to 
have  him  come.  For  he  was  a  Catholic,  and  Geneva  al- 
lowed no  Catholics  there.  And  he  was  an  infidel  satirist, 
and  Geneva  was  not  sure  how  he  might  let  loose  his 
satire  on  her.  Soon  after  he  arrived  he  bought  a  home, 
which  he  called  "The  Delights."*  When  Voltaire  was 
buying  this  place  Vernet  wrote  to  him  that  the  only 
thing  that  troubled  the  Genevese  were  his  sentiments 
about  religion,  and  he  expressed  the  hope  that  Voltaire 
would  aid  the  city  in  turning  the  youth  from  irreligion, 
and  in  that  case  he  would  be  honored  by  all  and  feared 

*  It  is  located  on  the  road  to  Lyons,  near  the  city-gate,  near 
where  the  Arve  and  Rhone  rivers  meet.  The  road  near  it  is 
to-day  named  after  his  home,  Rue  des  Delicies.  The  mansion 
was  some  time  ago  occupied  as  a  young  ladies'  boarding  school. 


286  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

by  none.  Voltaire  replied  briefly,  February  5,  1755 : 
"What  you  write  concerning  religion  is  very  reasonable. 
I  detest  intolerance  and  fanaticism.  I  respect  your  re- 
ligion as  I  love  and  respect  your  republic.  I  am  too  old, 
too  sick,  and  a  little  too  severe  toward  young  people." 
How  he  kept  these  sentiments  will  be  seen  hereafter.  At 
"The  Delights"  he  lived  ostentatiously,  for  he  had  great 
wealth  and  entertained  many  strangers.  The  coming  of 
his  carriage  into  Geneva  always  made  a  sensation.  On 
one  occasion  he  was  not  pleased  with  the  curiosity  of  the 
people.  "What  do  you  want,  boobies  that  you  are?"  he 
asked  from  the  upper  step  of  the  bank.  "Do  you  wish 
to  see  a  skeleton?  Behold  one."  Throwing  open  his 
cloak,  he  exhibited  his  meagre  form  to  the  throng,  who 
applauded  him,  as  with  difficulty  he  entered  the  carriage. 
In  the  beginning  all  went  well,  but  soon  Voltaire's  natural 
quarrelsomeness  got  the  better  of  him.  He  wanted  to 
make  Puritanic  Geneva  as  gay  as  Paris.  All  extrava- 
gance and  theatre-going  were  forbidden  there  by  law. 
One  day,  when  one  of  the  great  actors  of  Paris  was  his 
guest,  he  had  one  of  his  plays,  "Zaire,"  played  at  his 
house  and  invited  the  magistrates  of  Geneva.  He  wrote 
to  a  friend  gleefully  that  the  council  of  Geneva  shed 
tears  at  the  performance.  "I  have  never  seen  the  people 
so  moved,"  he  wrote.  "Never  before  were  the  Calvinists 
so  tender."  The  government  of  Geneva  passed  over  this 
first  theatrical  performance,  but  later  took  action  against 
it.  In  the  meanwhile  the  awful  Lisbon  earthquake  oc- 
curred, which  upset  the  popular  theology  of  the  eighteenth 
century.  Leibnitz's  optimism,  that  this  was  the  best  of 
all  possible  worlds,  had  had  universal  sway.  But  how 
could  an  earthquake  that  came  on  the  people  not  in  the 
midst  of  their  sin  as  a  judgment  of  God,  but  on  them  on 
their  holiest  of  days,  All  Saints'  Day,  and  killed  15,000 
of  them  (many  of  them  at  worship  in  the  churches),  be 
explained?     Voltaire  took  advantage  of  the  situation  to 


GENEVA  287 

write  a  poem  about  it,  so  as  to  raise  doubts.  This  and 
other  publications,  as  his  "Universal  History"  (1758), 
which  represented  religion  as  the  scourge  of  the  race, 
brought  down  on  him  the  wrath  of  Geneva.  But  it  was 
his  theatre  that  was  the  straw  that  broke  the  camel's 
back.  The  consistory  of  Geneva  learned  that  he  was 
preparing  to  recruit  the  young  people  of  Geneva  so  as 
to  give  a  theatrical  performance.  They  forbade  it  and 
Voltaire  submitted. 

But  at  his  first  opportunity,  after  being  at  "The  De- 
lights" for  three  years,  he  bought  a  place  at  Ferney, 
just  over  the  border,  in  France,  three  and  a  half  miles 
northwest  of  Geneva.  At  that  time  he  had  a  home  at 
Geneva,  one  in  France,  and  one  in  Lausanne.  He  tried 
to  live  under  several  governments,  so  that  if  he  were  in 
danger  from  one  he  could  flee  to  another.  At  Ferney 
he  built  a  church  and  had  inscribed  on  it  in  Latin,  "Vol- 
taire erected  to  God."  He  went  to  mass  in  it  a  few 
times.  As  soon  as  he  was  out  of  reach  of  Geneva  he  built 
a  theatre  at  Ferney.*  Thither  he  brought  the  leading 
actor  of  Paris,  Lekain.  His  object  in  building  it  was  to 
corrupt  the  youth  of  Geneva.  He  issued  invitations  broad- 
cast through  the  country.  The  Genevan  pastors  warned 
their  people  not  to  attend,  but  the  people  went  in  crowds. 
And  Voltaire  rubbed  his  hands  in  glee  at  the  helplessness 
of  the  pastors. 

This  was  only  the  beginning  of  his  efforts.  In  1757 
D'Alembert,  the  great  editor  of  the  infidel  Encyclopaedia, 
spent  five  weeks  with  him.  He  was  kindly  received  by 
the  ministers  and  councillors  of  Geneva.  At  Voltaire's 
suggestion  D'Alembert  paid  his  respects  to  them  by 
writing  them  up  in  his  Encyclopaedia  thus:  "In  a  word, 
they  have  no  other  religion  than  a  perfect  Socinianism, 

*  The  theatre  is  still  standing,  though  used  as  a  hayloft. 
The  box  is  preserved  at  which  Voltaire  cheered  his  own  and 
others'  plays. 


2S8  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

rejecting  all  that  is  called  mystery,  and  imagining  that 
the  first  principle  of  true  religion  must  be  to  propose 
nothing  for  belief  that  is  offensive  to  reason."  This 
article  produced  a  great  sensation  at  Geneva  and  through- 
out Europe.  For  Geneva  had  had  the  reputation  of  be- 
ing the  citadel  of  Protestantism.  The  Venerable  Com- 
pany protested  against  the  article  and  appointed  a  com- 
mission to  reply  to  it,  who  spent  six  weeks  in  drawing 
up  a  statement  which  they  sent  to  foreign  (fhurches.  It 
denied  the  charges  and  declared  that  they  held  to  the 
inspiration  of  the  Scripture  and  believed  in  a  Christ  who 
was  the  "fulness  of  the  Godhead  bodily."  But  by  this 
Scripture  quotation  they  did  not  mean  an  incarnation  but 
an  endowing  of  the  man  Jesus  with  the  strength  of  God. 
Manhood  was  thus  made  the  basis  of  Christ's  person, 
and  not  his  Godhead  as  the  orthodox  held.  They  also 
passed  a  severe  action  against  Voltaire,  whom  they  held 
to  be  morally  responsible  for  the  act.  In  a  word,  they 
felt  themselves  tricked  by  their  arch-enemy.  But  the 
fact  remained  that  D'Alembert's  charge  was  true.  The 
secret  was  out.  The  infidel  had  uncovered  it.  For  the 
Church  of  Geneva  was  no  longer  the  church  of  Calvin, 
but  the  church  of  Servetus.  Thus  did  Voltaire  plague 
Geneva.  His  sneer  was  that  whenever  he  shook  his  wig 
he  powdered  the  whole  republic  of  Geneva. 

Soon  another  opportunity  came  for  him  to  annoy 
Geneva.  When,  in  1763,  Robert  Coville  was  censured 
by  the  Geneva  consistory  for  immorality,  it  demanded 
that  when  he  was  restored  to  the  church  he  must  kneel. 
This  he  refused  to  do,  and  Voltaire,  seeing  his  oppor- 
tunity, took  up  his  case.  Pamphlets  enough  to  fill  three 
large  volumes  appeared.  Voltaire  defended  him  with  all 
the  weapons  of  his  satire.  He  made  him  the  leading  char- 
acter in  a  burlesque  poem,  "War  in  Geneva,"  which  over- 
whelmed the  consistory  with  ridicule.  These  things  made 
such  a  stir  that,  a  few  month  later,  the  city  council  de- 


GENEVA  289 

cided  against  the  consistory  and  set  aside  the  necessity 
of  kneeling.  Thus,  after  a  six  years'  struggle,  Voltaire 
triumphed. 

As  time  went  on  Voltaire  became  more  and  more 
bitter,  amounting  to  a  fanaticism  against  religion.  His 
motto  was  "ecrasez  l'infame"  (crush  the  monster).  This 
phrase  he  frequently  used  in  his  letters,  in  imitation  of 
Cato,  who  ended  his  letters  thus,  with  "Crush  Carthage 
the  monster."  But  the  monster  of  Voltaire  was  the 
supernatural  in  religion,  especially  when  it  enforced  its 
demands  with  penalties.  His  efforts  now  become  dia- 
bolical. Never  was  there  a  more  insidious  persistent 
effort  to  uproot  religion  than  his.  "Twelve  men  built 
up  Christianity,"  he  used  to  say,  "one  will  pull  it 
down,"  referring  to  himself.  His  literary  genius,  his 
wit,  his  sarcasm,  his  great  wealth  and  influence,  were  all 
invoked  against  Christianity.  He  then  proceeded  to  fill 
Geneva  with  infidel  publications.  The  Genevese  gov- 
ernment forbade  their  circulation.  He  would  have  his 
infidel  books  published  with  the  imprint  of  Geneva  on 
them,  although  they  were  not  published  there.  When  he 
published  his  "Philosophical  Dictionary,"  in  eight  volumes, 
in  1764,  the  Genevese  were  angry,  and  it  was  well  for  him 
that  he  did  not  live  in  the  city.  When  its  first  volumes 
arrived  the  consistory  had  them  seized  because  of  their 
impiety.  Tronchin  called  on  Voltaire  at  Ferney,  and  asked 
him  to  have  the  book  withdrawn.  Voltaire  only  shrugged 
his  shoulders.  Then  he  played  a  trick.  While  the  police 
seized  the  original  copies  as  they  were  sent  in,  other 
copies  were  sent  in  under  an  assumed  name.  Tronchin, 
indignant,  had  the  book  burned  before  the  city  hall.  This 
greatly  enraged  Voltaire,  and  he  only  redoubled  his  ef- 
forts by  multiplying  such  books. 

He  now  published  many  books  with  religious  titles,  as 
"Serious  Thought  of  God"  and  "Epistle  to  the  Romans," 
which  were  filled  with  infidel  arguments  and  suggestions 

19 


290  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

of  doubts.  In  them  he  hid  himself  under  pseudonyms, 
of  which  he  is  said  to  have  used  108.  He  thus  emptied 
his  arsenal  of  unbelief  into  Geneva.  He  confidently  ex- 
pected that  two  of  his  books  would  demolish  Christianity, 
his  "Philosophical  Dictionary"  and  "Gospel  of  Reason." 
He  made  supreme  efforts,  sending  600  copies  to  well- 
paid  colporteurs,  who  were  to  offer  them  to  all  strangers 
passing  through  Geneva,  and  to  scatter  them  in  public 
places.  His  colporteurs  stuffed  them  among  papers  and 
parcels  in  the  stores.  They  were  fastened  to  door-bells 
or  slipped  in  under  the  doors.  Every  evening  they  were 
placed  on  the  benches  in  the  park.  The  city  made  great 
efforts  to  find  out  who  distributed  them,  but  never  was 
able.  Even  the  catechisms  of  the  children  were  tam- 
pered with.  These  catechisms  began  religiously,  but 
soon  were  filled  with  suggestions  of  doubt  to  the  chil- 
dren. Here  appears  a  curious  revenge  of  history.  The 
Venerable  Company  had  given  up  Calvin's  catechism  as 
too  orthodox.  Now  they  got  more  than  they  wanted  in 
a  catechism  like  this.  These  catechisms  of  Voltaire  were 
gotten  into  the  hands  of  the  children  being  prepared  for 
confirmation.  It  was  a  horrible,  a  blasphemous  thing 
thus  to  undermine  and  mock  the  simple  faith  of  a  child 
just  when  it  is  trying  to  believe.  But  Voltaire  was 
capable  of  doing  anything — the  worse,  the  better  he  liked 
it.  Thus,  he  had  copies  of  his  "Philosophical  Diction- 
ary," so  full  of  doubts,  bound  like  a  psalm-book  and 
left  on  the  benches  of  the  Madeline  Church,  for  the 
use  of  the  young  people 

The  Genevan  Church,  in  all  this,  got  more  than  she 
wanted.  She  made  replies  to  Voltaire  repeatedly.  She 
could  boast  of  her  orthodoxy  very  easily,  especially  when 
compared  with  Voltaire's — anybody  could;  but,  as  com- 
pared with  orthodoxy,  she  was  sadly  lacking.  Voltaire 
used  to  call  her  members  shame-faced  Socinians,  and 
he  was  right.     All  their  efforts  to  counteract  this  ac- 


GENEVA  291 

tivity  were  in  vain;  and  no  wonder.  For  what  good 
reply  could  Socinianism  make  to  infidelity  when  it  is 
itself  half-infidelity.  They,  therefore,  failed,  and  their 
failure  only  humiliated  them  the  more  before  the  world. 
They  were  beginning  to  find  that  the  down-grade  in 
doctrine  ultimately  meant  suicide. 

Voltaire  boasted  that  he  would  destroy  the  church. 
Did  he  succeed?  No.  For  the  church  still  exists  at 
Geneva  and  elsewhere  to-day  stronger  than  ever.  The 
reply  then  made  to  Voltaire  was  that  he  might  as  well 
pull  down  the  stars  as  pull  down  Christianity.  But  his 
failure  is  a  fine  illustration  of  how  far  a  little  Christianity 
can  go.  Even  the  low  type  of  Christianity  as  then  found 
in  Geneva  was  stronger  than  this  greatest  apostle  of  in- 
fidelity. The  Genevan  Church,  without  the  Evangelical 
doctrines,  was  in  a  very  poor  condition  to  combat  Vol- 
taire's genius  and  influence.  If  so  little  religion  can  put 
to  flight  so  great  infidelity,  then  we  need  not  fear.  If 
infidelity  could  not  destroy  what  was  almost  a  pseudo- 
Christianity — a  Christianity  with  Christ's  divinity  and 
atonement  left  out  of  it — it  can  never  hope  to  destroy 
the  Evangelical  Church  of  to-day,  so  full  of  life  and 
energy  and  so  full  of  the  love  of  Christ  and  the  hope  of 
ultimate  triumph.  Surely,  as  our  Master  said,  "the 
gates  of  hell  shall  not  prevail  against  it." 

Voltaire,  after  living  at  or  near  Geneva  for  nearly  a 
quarter  of  a  century  (1754-78),  finally  left  it  for  Paris, 
where  he  died,  May  30,  1778.  The  only  event  in  all 
his  life  that  to  any  extent  lightens  the  awful  blackness 
of  his  diabolical  attempt  to  destroy  the  church  was  his 
effort  for  religious  liberty — he  succeeded  in  getting  the 
family  of  Calas,  of  France,  free. 

Finally,  to  complete  the  demoralization  of  the  Ge- 
nevan Church  came  the  French  Revolution.  What 
Alphonse  Turretin  began  and  Vernet  continued  and 
Voltaire  aided— this,  the  revolution  completed.      Geneva 


292 


THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 


became  a  department  of  France.  Many  of  the  endow- 
ments of  the  professors  were  lost  and  the  number  of 
theological  professors  was  lessened  to  two.  The  Cath- 
olics were  allowed  citizenship  in  Geneva,  a  privilege 
never  granted  them  before,  and  by  1810  there  were  4,000 
of  them  in  Geneva.  In  all  these  political  changes  Prot- 
estantism lost.  The  masses  lost  respect  for  the  church, 
many  of  the  men  ridiculed  it,  and  the  congregations  were 
largely  made  up  of  women.  The  levity  of  the  French, 
too,  came  in  to  dissipate  the  sturdy  solidity  of  Swiss 
character,  and  Geneva  degenerated  to  what  it  has  been 
ever  since — a  little  Paris — an  imitation  of  Paris. 

How  great  was  the  descent  from  Calvin  to  this. 
Geneva,  the  city  that,  under  Calvin,  had  been  a  city  set 
on  a  hill,  whose  light  could  not  be  hid — the  model  city, 
the  wonder  of  its  day — had  fallen  into  an  abyss.  The 
church  which  so  successfully  had  resisted  all  the  plots  of 
Romanism  for  centuries  was  finally  captured  by  its  op- 
posite, rationalism.  For  two  centuries  and  more  Geneva 
had  held  to  its  Calvinism;  but  half  a  century  had  un- 
done it  all.  And  it  has  taken  another  century  to  undo 
the  work  of  the  eighteenth  century.  But  from  the  down- 
grade we  will  soon  turn  to  watch  the  up-grade.  What 
Voft'aite,  in  the  eighteenth  century,  aimed  to  destroy, 
Hatdane,  in  the  nineteenth  century,  aimed  to  upbuild. 
The  story  of  the  Revival  at  Geneva  in  1817  is  more 
wonderful  than  the  down-grade,  and  will  prove  more 
interesting. 

Section  4 

rosseau  and  the  genevan  crurch 

It  seems  an  anomaly  to  put  John  Jacob  Rosseau,  the 
flippant  and  wicked,  into  a  church  history;  yet  his  works 
exerted  so  great  an  influence  politically  and  religiously 
that  it  seems  to  be  necessary.     At  any  rate,  he  serves 


GENEVA  293 

as  a  foil  to  Voltaire,  though  not  so  great  an  arch-infidel; 
and  his  influence  is  lessened  by  his  gross  inconsistencies. 
He  was  the  most  brilliant  Genevese  of  his  day  in  the 
realm  of  literature. 

John  Jacob  Rosseau  was  born  June  28,  1712.  "I  cost 
my  mother  her  life,"  he  said,  "and  my  birth  was  the  first 
of  my  misfortunes."  Sickly  at  birth,  he  grew  up  an 
imaginative,  morbid  child.  At  the  age  of  ten  his  father 
forsook  him,  and  he  was  reared  for  a  time  by  an  aunt. 
She  was  a  follower  of  Magny  the  pietist,  and  he  was 
thus  for  a  time  under  pietistic  influences.  How  different 
his  life  would  have  been  had  he  followed  her  influence — 
he  might  have  become  a  great  reformer  to  Geneva  in 
an  age  when  she  greatly  needed  one.  But  the  next  year 
he  left  her  to  learn  the  trade  of  engraving.  At  the  age 
of  sixteen  he  fled  from  his  cruel  employer  to  Savoy, 
and  there,  under  a  proselyting  priest,  he  became  Catholic. 
At  Turin,  under  the  influence  of  a  deistic  priest,  he  lost 
his  youthful  faith  and  became  ever  after,  at  heart,  an 
adherent  of  merely  natural  religion. 

We  pass  over  his  relations  to  Madame  Warens  in 
Savoy,  his  wickedness  in  Paris,  and  his  ten  years'  strug- 
gle against  poverty  there  before  he  gained  fame  in  the 
literary  world,  in  order  to  take  up  his  relation  to  Geneva 
and  Christianity.  In  1754,  at  the  age  of  forty-two,  he 
returned  to  Geneva,  where  he  was  highly  honored  for 
his  literary  fame.  In  order  to  become  a  citizen  of  Geneva 
he  returned  to  the  Reformed  Church.  But  religion  sat 
lightly  on  him,  and  he  could  easily  pass  from  one  to  the 
other — Reformed,  Catholic,  agnostic.  And  it  is  to  be  re- 
membered that  the  Socinianism  of  the  Church  of  Geneva 
of  his  day  had  as  little  religion  as  possible,  which  made 
that  church  suit  his  light  religious  nature.  But  after 
four  months  he  left  Geneva  for  Paris.  His  political 
work,  "A  Discourse  on  the  Equality  of  Man,"  which  he 
dedicated  to  Geneva,  was  coldly  received  there.     For  al- 


294  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

though  Switzerland  was  a  republic,  Geneva  was  an  aris- 
tocracy, and  he  taught  democracy,  a  dangerous  thing 
to  do  in  those  days.  Besides,  he  hated  to  be  near  to 
Voltaire,  who  came  to  Geneva.  Strange  to  say,  Ros- 
seau  got  into  a  controversy  with  this  arch-infidel  and  de- 
fended religion  against  him.  For  they  were  opposites 
politically.  While  Rosseau  was  a  democrat,  Voltaire 
was  an  aristocrat  with  a  contemptuous  kindliness  for  the 
masses.  "They  are  stupid  men,"  he  said,  "barbarous 
oxen  who  need  only  a  goad,  a  yoke  and  some  hay."  When 
Voltaire  tried  to  introduce  the  theatre  into  Geneva,  Ros- 
seau attacked  him  for  trying  to  spoil  the  simple  customs 
of  the  city,  and  yet  Rosseau  had  already  written  some 
plays.  But  it  was  Voltaire's  poem  on  the  earthquake 
at  Lisbon  that  Rosseau  attacked  most  severely.  Voltaire 
had  used  that  calamity  as  an  argument  to  show  that  God 
was  not  kind.  Rosseau,  in  a  letter,  replied  that  such 
calamities  were  not  the  result  of  God's  providence,  but 
arose  from  man's  errors.  While,  according  to  the  pious, 
providence  is  always  right,  and,  according  to  the  philoso- 
phers (like  Voltaire),  providence  is  always  wrong,  he 
held  a  middle  view  that  providence  was  neither  right  nor 
wrong  in  respect  to  individuals,  but  acted  only  in  general 
affairs.  This  letter  Voltaire  published,  which  so  enraged 
Rosseau  that  he  replied  that  Voltaire  appeared  to  believe 
in  a  God,  but  never  really  believed  in  anything  but  the 
devil.  Voltaire  returned  this  by  calling  him  a  dog  of 
Diogenes,  etc.  And  so  these  two  unbelievers  quarreled 
as  Voltaire  and  King  Frederick  the  Great  had  done,  to 
the  amusement  of  Christians,  and  as  leaders  of  infidelity 
are  apt  to  do. 

Three  books  made  Rosseau  famous:  his  "Heloise," 
his  "Social  Contract,"  and  his  "Emile."  The  first  we 
need  not  notice,  but  the  other  two  must  be  considered, 
as  they  concern  religion.  His  "Social  Contract"  was  the 
most  important  political  book  of  the  latter  part  of  the 


GENEVA  295 

eighteenth  century.  This  is  not  the  place  to  go  at  any 
length  into  its  political  teachings,  except  in  barest  out- 
line. Its  title  revealed  its  novelty — that  society  was 
based  on  a  contract  among  individuals.  This  differed 
from  the  old  Biblical  views  that  society  was  a  covenant 
between  God  and  man.  It  differed  also  from  the  view 
prevalent  for  centuries  regarding  the  divine  right  of 
kings.  He  claimed  that  in  case  of  usurpation,  the  con- 
tract was  broken,  and  the  other  party  could  do  as  they 
pleased.  Its  opening  sentence  was  a  bomb-shell  to  Eu- 
ropean nations :  "Man  is  born  free  and  yet  is  everywhere 
enslaved."  Many  of  its  principles  were  incorporated  in 
the  American  Declaration  of  Independence,  which  held 
that  man  was  born  free  and  equal.  Napoleon  said  that 
without  Rosseau  there  would  have  been  no  French  Revo- 
lution, and  his  remark  is  true.  A  very  interesting  con- 
trast is  sometimes  made  between  Calvin  and  Rosseau. 
Calvin,  or  rather  Calvinism,  led  to  the  formation  of  re- 
publics; Rosseau,  to  the  French  Revolution.  What  was 
lacking  in  Rosseau's  views?  It  was  religion.  Rosseau's 
democracy  needed  the  steadying  religious  influence 
of  Calvinism  to  make  it  permanent  and  a  blessing  to  men. 
But  it  is  to  the  religious  side  of  Rosseau  that  we  need 
here  to  direct  our  attention.  In  this  work  he  makes 
Catholicism  the  religion  of  priests,  and  he  claims  it  dis- 
solves society.  He  attacks  early  Christianity  as  hostile 
to  the  state  because  it  was  spiritual  and  unsocial,  while 
all  true  citizens  should  have  a  religion  that  inspires  to 
social  duties.  Religion  with  him  is  reduced  to  two  dog- 
mas :  belief  in  a  God  and  in  immortality.  But,  democrat 
as  he  was,  he  held,  strange  to  say,  that  a  man  who  was  not 
willing  to  accept  religion  ought  to  be  banished  or  put  to 
death.  (Here  was  the  old  Genevan  spirit  that  put  Ser- 
vetus  to  death  rising  up  in  him.)  Strange  to  say,  these 
views  of  his  bore  fruit  in  the  French  Revolution.  There 
were  then  two  parties  in  France :  the  rationalistic  Voltaire 


296  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

party  of  the  Commune  and  the  party  of  the  sentimental 
Rosseau.  The  first  desecrated  the  churches  and  set  up 
the  goddess  of  reason  for  worship.  Robespierre,  who  was 
a  follower  of  Rosseau,  retaliated  by  protesting  against 
such  atheism.  The  atheistic  party  succumbed  and  their 
leaders  were  sent  to  the  guillotine  on  true  Rosseauan 
principles  for  having  no  religion.  Thus  Rosseau,  with 
all  his  republicanism,  had  not  yet  gotten  to  religious  lib- 
erty which  respects  the  views  of  even  atheists  and 
infidels. 

But  it  is  his  "Emile,"  published  1763,  that  especially 
develops  his  religious  views.  It,  like  the  "Social  Con- 
tract," was  an  epoch-making  book,  only  on  education. 
Goethe  called  it  "the  gospel  of  education."  It  seems 
strange  that  a  man  like  Rosseau,  who  placed  his  five  ille- 
gitimate children  in  a  foundling  asylum  to  be  reared, 
would  be  able  to  speak  authoritatively  on  the  best  method 
of  training  children.  Yet,  perhaps,  it  was  the  deficiency 
in  his  own  training  when  a  boy  that  may  have  prepared 
him  to  write  it.  In  his  day  there  was  little  home  train- 
ing of  children,  especially  in  French-speaking  lands. 
Education  was  by  tutors  or  by  priests  and  after  a  parrot 
fashion.  The  children  were  sent  to  the  country  to  be 
reared,  so  that  the  parents  might  be  free  from  their  care. 
His  first  principle  was  that  the  children  ought  to  be 
reared  by  their  parents.  His  second  was  that  a  child 
should  be  permitted  to  develop  according  to  the  pecu- 
liarities of  his  own  nature  without  restraint  and  without 
having  prejudices  or  artificial  faults  implanted  in  him. 
Every  child  was  good  until  education  made  him  bad. 
So  Emile,  his  hero,  an  orphan,  up  to  twelve  years  of  age 
had  no  instruction  in  any  book  and  no  restraint  what- 
ever was  placed  on  him.  He  was  brought  up  so  ignorant 
of  religion  that,  at  fifteen,  he  does  not  know  there  is  a 
God,  for  he  was  not  to  hear  the  name  of  God  till  his 
reason  was  fairly  ripened.     "Better  no  idea  of  a  God 


GENEVA  297 

than  an  unworthy  one,"  said  Rosseau.  But  although 
Rosseau  believed  that  education  must  not  be  by  rule  or 
rote,  but  according  to  the  development  of  the  nature  of 
the  child,  yet  his  Emile,  educated  according  to  the  strict 
rules  of  this  plan,  became  merely  a  puppet.  However,  his 
book  had  a  wonderful  influence  everywhere  in  leading  to 
the  education  of  the  child  naturally.  But,  of  course,  his 
views  of  the  religious  education  of  the  child  without 
God  were  contrary  to  Scripture  and  undermined  religion 
wherever  introduced. 

But  it  is  the  religious,  not  the  educational  side  of  this 
book  in  which  we  are  interested.  He  gives  the  creed  of 
the  Vicar  of  Savoy.  It  is  really  agnosticism  or  ignorance 
of  God.  He  aimed  by  it  to  compromise  between  the 
bald  atheism  of  his  day  and  traditional  orthodoxy.  But 
he  was  far  from  Evangelical.  He  held  there  was  no 
need  of  a  revelation  as  in  the  Bible,  for  man  had  that  in 
his  heart  within  him  and  in  nature  around  him.  He 
knows  there  is  a  Supreme  Being,  but  does  not  know  him. 
And  the  less  he  conceives  God,  the  more  he  adores  him.* 
But,  in  connection  with  this,  he  pays  one  of  the  finest 
tributes  to  Jesus  Christ  that  ever  was  paid  by  an  infidel. 
He  writes : 

"Where  did  Jesus  learn  among  His  people  that 
morality,  so  lofty  and  so  pure,  of  which  He  alone  has 
given  lessons  and  the  example?  From  the  midst  of  the 
most  furious  fanaticism,  the  highest  wisdom  made  itself 
heard;  and  the  simplicity  of  the  most  heroic  virtues  sheds 
lustre  on  the  basest  of  all  vices.    The  death  of  Socrates, 

*  The  creed  of  the  Savoyard  Vicar  consists  of  three  articles, 
as  follows : 

1.  There  is  a  will  that  sets  the  universe  in  motion  and  gives 
life  to  nature. 

2.  If  matter  in  motion  points  to  a  will,  matter  in  motion 
according  to  fixed  laws,  points  to  an  intelligence. 

3.  Man  is  free  to  act,  and  as  such  is  animated  by  an  im- 
material substance. 


298  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

philosophizing  with  his  friends,  is  the  gentlest  that  one 
could  desire:  that  of  Jesus  dying  in  torture,  abused, 
mocked  and  cursed  by  all,  is  the  most  horrible  that  one 
could  fear.  Socrates  takes  his  poisoned  cup  and  blesses 
him  who  in  tears  presents  it.  Jesus,  in  the  midst  of 
frightful  suffering,  prays  for  His  infuriated  executioners. 
Yes,  if  the  life  and  death  of  Socrates  be  that  of  a  sage, 
the  life  and  death  of  Jesus  is  that  of  a  God." 

Thus  do  many  liberals  in  theology  try  to  make  up 
for  the  lack  of  their  theology,  by  effulgent  rhetoric. 

"Emile"  created  a  tremendous  sensation.     It  was  de- 
nounced for  undermining  government  by  weakening  re- 
spect for  kings,  and  by  the  Archbishop  of  Paris  for  its 
atheism  and  blasphemy.     They  charged  him  with  say- 
ing that  man  was  saved  without  believing  in  a  God ;  yes, 
with  asserting  that  the  Christian  religion  did  not  exist. 
The  French  parliament  ordered  "Emile"  to  be  burned, 
June  ii,  1762,  and  ordered  his  arrest.     Geneva,  follow- 
ing the  example  of  Paris,  as  she  is  apt  to  do,  ordered 
that  both  his  "Emile"  and  "Social  Contract"  should  be 
publicly  burned,  the  first  for  its  blasphemy,  the  second 
for  its  republicanism.     And  it  was  done  June  17,  1762. 
Or,  rather,  it  was  the  aristocrats  at  Geneva,  especially 
the  little  council,  in  which  they  had  the  majority,  who 
caused  it  to  be  burned.     This  led  to  great  strife  there, 
for    the    democrats    opposed    it,    and    three    times    they 
marched  to  the  city  hall  to  protest  against  it,  the  last  time 
numbering  600.     These  attacks  on  the  council  drew  forth 
from  Robert  Tronchin  a  defence  of  their  action.     To 
this  Rosseau  replied  in  his  "Letters  from  the  Mountain," 
for  Rosseau,  in  the  meanwhile,  had  gone  to  the  moun- 
tains.    He  fled  from  Geneva,  June  9,  to  Bern.     But  the 
Bernese  compelled  him  to  leave,  for  Bern  was  aristo- 
cratic and  also  disliked  his  infidelity.     He  went  to  Neu- 
chatel,  where  the  King  of  Prussia  permitted  him  to  live 
at  Motiers.     Here  he  remained  some  time  and  replied 
to  the  attack  of  the  Archbishop  of  Paris  on  his  book.    He 


GENEVA 


299 


also  took  revenge  on  Geneva  for  burning  his  books  by 
renouncing  his  citizenship  and  writing  his  "Letters  from 
the  Mountain."  Before  that  he  had  mainly  attacked 
the  state,  now  he  bitterly  scores  the  church.  His  attack 
was  the  more  unexpected,  as  since  he  had  defended  Gen- 
eva against  Voltaire  about  the  theatre,  and  the  Genevan 
Church  against  D'Alembert,  the  Church  of  Geneva  had 
been  kindly  disposed  toward  him,  and  its  leaders,  Vernes 
and  Vernet,  were  on  intimate  social  terms  with  him.  He 
lays  bare  the  condition  of  the  Church  of  Geneva  most 
severely. 

"It  is  asked,"  he  says,  "of  the  citizens  of  Geneva,  if 
Jesus  Christ  is  God.  They  dare  not  answer.  It  is  asked 
if  He  is  a  mere  man.  They  are  embarrassed  and  will  not 
say  they  think  so.  They  are  alarmed,  terrified,  they 
come  together,  they  discuss,  they  are  in  agitation  and 
often  earnest  consultation  and  conference.  All  vanishes 
into  ambiguity,  and  they  say  neither  yes  nor  no.  O  Gen- 
evese,  your  ministers  are  in  truth  very  singular  people. 
They  do  not  know  what  they  believe  or  what  they  do  not 
believe.  They  do  not  even  know  what  they  would  wish 
to  appear  to  believe.  Their  only  manner  of  establishing 
their  faith  is  to  attack  the  faith  of  others." 

What  makes  this  description  so  interesting  is  that 
it  is  so  true  to  fact.  That  describes  the  attitude  of  the 
Genevan  pastors  at  that  time.  But  it  came  with  the  force 
of  a  bombshell.  Poor  Genevan  Church !  Only  seven  years 
before  D'Alembert  had  laid  bare  to  the  gaze  of  the  world 
her  denial  of  Calvinism  and  of  Evangelical  faith  in  her 
Socinianism  ;  now  Rosseau  lays  her  condition  again  before 
the  world.  Of  course,  her  ministers  replied.  Professor 
Claparede  wrote  on  miracles,  and  Vernes  on  the  exposi- 
tion of  Rosseau's  "Evangelical  Religion  and  Ministers  of 
Geneva."  And  yet  against  him  they  could  not  make  much 
of  a  defence,  for  their  Christianity  had  degenerated  peril- 
ously near  to  Rosseau's  natural  theology,  as  they  made 
revelation  secondary  to  natural   religion  and   mainly  a 


3oo  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

proof  of  natural  religion. 

But  he  soon  got  into  trouble  at  Motiers.  For  in  Sep- 
tember, 1762,  he  demanded  to  be  allowed  to  commune  at 
the  Reformed  Church  there,  declaring  that  he  was  a 
member  of  that  faith.  But  the  consistory  came  together 
and  called  him  before  them,  because  of  the  scandal  against 
religion  that  his  "Letters  from  the  Mountain"  had  caused. 
It  is  said  he  was  so  intimidated  with  the  idea  of  appear- 
ing before  the  eight  members  of  the  consistory,  that  he 
excused  himself.  But  they  refused  to  allow  him  to  com- 
mune. For  this  the  state  council  declared  that  the 
pastor  and  consistory  had  exceeded  their  rights.  And 
Frederick  the  Great,  of  Prussia,  was  also  displeased  by 
their  action.  But  it  is  to  be  remembered  that  neither 
infidels,  like  Frederick,  nor  secular  authorities  are  the 
proper  parties  to  judge  concerning  church  discipline.  The 
pastor  did  right.  He  was  true  to  the  old  principles  of 
Calvin  and  his  church,  though  it  must  have  taken  much 
moral  courage  to  do  so.  For  how  could  he  admit  an  infidel 
to  the  sacred  table  of  the  Lord,  as  Scripture  says  the 
Lord's  Table  is  not  for  unbelievers?  But  his  action  stands 
out  in  strong  contrast  with  the  action  of  the  Catholic 
priests  at  Ferney,  who  allowed  Voltaire,  arch-infidel  as 
he  was,  to  commune  at  the  mass. 

But  feeling  rose  against  Rosseau  there  because  of  this 
incident  and  also  because  his  old  enemy,  Voltaire,  sent 
an  anonymous  letter,  accusing  Rosseau  of  atrocious 
crimes.  He  then  fled  to  the  island  of  St.  Peter,  in  the 
lake  of  Biel,  between  Neuchatel  and  Bern.  But  Bern 
soon  compelled  him  to  leave  there.  Driven  out  every- 
where, he  hardly  knew  where  to  go.  Finally  he  went 
to  England,  where  Hume  attempted  to  befriend  him,  and 
failing,  was  severely  charged  by  Rosseau  (who  at  this 
time  had  become  misanthropic  because  of  his  persecu- 
tions) with  having  joined  what  he  considered  to  be  a 
universal  conspiracy  against  him.     Rosseau  then  fled  to 


GENEVA 


301 


Paris,  where  the  old  opposition  against  him  had  passed 
away,  and  near  Paris  he  died,  in  1778,  whether  a  suicide 
or  not,  is  undetermined.  His  body,  like  that  of  his 
enemy  Voltaire,  lies  in  peace  in  the  Pantheon  at  Paris. 
His  life  is  a  sad  illustration  of  the  blight  of  infidelity. 
As  a  republican  he  might  have  done  much  for  the  world, 
much  good;  as  an  infidel  he  did  it  much  harm.  But  he 
harmed  no  one  more  than  himself,  as  his  sad  experiences 
show. 

Section  5 

prof.  charles  bonnet 

Geneva,  like  Basle  with  its  Euler,  and  Bern  with  its 
Haller,  also  contributed  a  scientist  as  an  apologist  to 
Christianity  in  that  age  of  rationalism.  Indeed  it  is  re- 
markable how  in  that  age  of  rationalism,  the  men  of 
science,  rather  than  the  clergy,  rise  up  to  prominence  in 
the  defence  of  Christianity.  He  was  born  March  13, 
1720,  and  studied  mathematics  and  philosophy.  By  1743 
he  had  risen  to  such  prominence  that  he  was  made  a 
member  of  the  Royal  Academy  of  London.  In  1744 
he  published  his  Insectology,  and  in  1754  his  Psychology. 
He  was  a  philosopher  and  has  generally  been  classed  with 
the  sensual  school  of  Condillac.  In  France  this  school 
was  against  Christianity.  But  Bonnet  was  spiritual  and 
he  defended  it,  as  he  held  to  faith  in  the  invisible  and 
in  the  future  world.  He  was  also  a  natural  philosopher 
and  loved  to  bring  the  discoveries  of  nature  into  union 
with  his  search  for  God.  After  many  years  of  study 
in  philosophy  and  science,  he  published,  in  1759,  "An 
Analytic  Essay  on  the  Faculties  of  the  Soul  and  a  Con- 
sideration of  the  Body  Viewed  as  an  Organ."  As  a  sen- 
sualist philosopher,  he  viewed  man  just  as  he  had  studied 
flowers  and  insects.  He  thus  emphasized  the  physiologi- 
cal side  of  man.     He  claimed  that  the  condition  of  the 


302  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

soul  was  produced  by  the  movements  of  the  nerve  fibres, 
for  the  soul  works  along  the  fibres.  In  this  he  was  the 
forerunner  of  modern  psychology.  But  though  approach- 
ing this  subject  from  a  materialistic  standpoint,  he  yet 
held  to  the  immortality  of  the  soul.  In  1764  he  pub- 
lished a  popular  work,  "The  Contemplation  of  Nature." 
He  sees  the  religious  everywhere  in  nature.  The  first 
part  treats  of  God  and  the  creation,  in  which  he  labors 
to  trace  the  signs  of  the  almighty  hand  of  the  Master. 
But  it  was  his  "Palingenesia,"  published  1769,  that 
was  his  main  apologetical  work.*  He  treats  the  subject 
philosophically.  He  says  that  man  has  two  means  of 
arriving  at  the  knowledge  of  things,  by  his  senses  and 
by  reflection.  But  neither  or  both  of  them  could  lead 
to  a  moral  certainty  of  the  future  state.  Man  must  there- 
fore be  led  to  a  certainty  only  by  extraordinary  means  as 
miracles  and  revelation.  He  defends  miracles  against 
Hume's  definition,  that  a  miracle  is  a  violation  of  the  laws 
of  nature,  and  gives  a  philosophical  analysis  of  the  testi- 
mony for  miracles.  Having  defended  miracles,  he  takes 
up  providence,  and  then  the  life  of  Christ  and  early  Chris- 
tianity, defending  its  truth  against  the  infidels.  Haller 
was  greatly  pleased  with  Bonnet's  discussion  of  revela- 
tion, and  published  an  extract  from  it  in  a  German  journal 
in  Gottingen.  He  declares  that  Bonnet  proved  the  di- 
vine mission  of  Christ  with  minuteness  and  philosophical 
precision.  Lavater  was  also  considerably  influenced  by 
Bonnet's  writings.  He  utilized  Bonnet's  contempla- 
tions of  nature,  as  the  basis  of  his  appeal  to  Mendels- 
sohn, the  Jewish  philosopher.  He  was  also  influenced 
by  the  philosophy  of  "Palingenesia,"  for  he  reveals  this 
in  the  third  volume  of  his  "Views  into  Eternity."  But 
he  adds  something  to  Bonnet's  organic  and  germ  theory. 
Bonnet  was  one  of  the  noblest  of  the  philosophical  apolo- 

*  "Palingenesia"  has  been  published  in  English,  and  entitled 
"Inquiries  Concerning  Christianity,"  by  Bonnet,  London,  1787. 


GENEVA  303 

gists  of  his  day.  In  his  wide  correspondence  he  exerted 
a  deep  influence  for  the  spiritual  in  that  materialistic  age. 
By  the  worth  of  his  character  and  the  strength  of  his  in- 
tellect he  was  the  mighty  foe  of  Voltaire,  who  feared  him. 
And  yet  in  it  all  he  was  free  from  dogmatizing,  and  lim- 
ited himself  to  the  defense  of  the  truth  of  Christianity 
and  of  immortality.  He  died  May  20,  1793,  in  the  midst 
of  the  French  Revolution.  Haller  was  the  spiritual  and 
practical  apologist,  Bonnet,  the  philosophical. 


BOOK  IV 

PIETISM,  OR    THE  REVIVAL 


20 


PART   I 

GERMAN  SWIZERLAND 

Pietism  is  a  movement  in  the  church  which  empha- 
sizes personal  experience.  Over  against  rationalism, 
which  emphasizes  the  intellectual,  it  emphasizes  the  feel- 
ings ;  and  over  against  ecclesiasticism,  which  emphasizes 
outward  forms,  it  makes  prominent  the  subjective,  the 
inward,  the  personal.  It  has  also  emphasized  the  prac- 
tical, as  its  glowing  personal  experience  has  led  it  to 
various  forms  of  Christian  activity,  as  in  the  founding 
of  orphans'  homes  by  the  Lutheran  pietist,  Franke,  at 
Halle,  in  Germany. 

Pietism  is  of  two  kinds,  churchly  and  anti-churchly. 
The  latter  forms  sects  and  is  separatistic.  It  criticises 
the  church  for  its  laxity  of  church  discipline  and  some- 
times becomes  very  bitter  against  the  church,  calling  it 
Babylon,  etc.  Of  these  pietists  in  Switzerland  we  have 
not  time  to  speak,  especially  as  they  compose  so  small  a 
fraction  of  the  population.  We  will  consider  only  the 
churchly  pietists, — those  who  either  remained  in  the 
church  or  held  to  the  position  of  churchly  pietists,  even 
when  driven  out  of  the  church,  as  in  the  case  of  Guldin 
at  Bern.* 

Pietism  became  prominent  in  Switzerland  later  than 
in  Germany.  Or  rather  this  might  be  changed  to  the 
statement  that  it  came  earlier  in  Switzerland,  if  we  in- 

*  Those  who  desire  to  fully  investigate  the  subject  of  Swiss 
pietism,  we  refer  to  Hadorn's  "History  of  Pietism  in  the  Swiss 
Reformed  Church"  and  Meister's  "Helvetische  Sczenen,"  pages 
62-167.     Both  works  are  in  German. 

307 


3o8  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

elude  the  Reformation.  For  it  was  the  prophesyings 
of  Zwingli  at  Zurich,  and  of  Calvin  at  Geneva  (they 
were  also  held  at  Bern),  that  were  the  root  of  all  the  later 
pietism  in  the  Reformed  Church.  Out  of  this  Reformed 
pietism  the  Lutheran  pietism  grew.  For  the  Lutheran 
Spener  got  his  first  impressions  of  pietism  when  hearing 
the  great  French  Reformed  preacher,  Labadie,  at  Geneva. 
The  pietists  were  not  a  party  in  the  Reformed  Church, 
as  in  the  Lutheran,  but  a  part  of  her  inmost  life  and 
history.  After  the  Reformation,  the  Church  of  Switzer- 
land went  into  a  period  of  dead  orthodoxy,  from  which 
the  pietism  at  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century  and  the 
beginning  of  the  nineteenth,  woke  it  up.  If,  however, 
the  Reformation  is  not  included  in  our  estimate  of  pietism, 
then  Germany  received  it  before  Switzerland.  In  Ger- 
many the  Reformed  minister,  Untereyck,  introduced  it 
(1665)  from  Holland,  where  Voet  and  Lodenstein  had 
taught  and  preached  it.*  This  was  five  years  before 
Spener  began  his  conventicles  at  Frankford-on-the-Main. 
Pietism  did  not  begin  in  Switzerland  until  considerably 
later  than  this,  as  we  shall  see. 

In  Germany  pietism  is  said  to  have  produced  rational- 
ism, because  its  intellectual  narrowness  led  to  a  reac- 
tion. This  fact  was  not  true  in  Switzerland,  for  there 
was  not,  as  in  Germany,  any  wide-spread  movement  into 
pietism  so  early,  only  a  few  individual  witnesses,  as 
Lutz  and  D'Annoni.  The  rationalistic  movement  in 
Switzerland  really  occurred  before  the  great  move- 
ment into  pietism  at  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth 
century.  So  that  in  Switzerland  pietism  did  not  cause 
rationalism  as  it  has  been  said  to  have  done  in 
Germany.  Rather  the  pietism  that  came  in  about  the 
beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century  was  a  return  from 

*  See  my  "History  of  the  Reformed  Church  of  Germany," 
pages  359-395. 


PIETISM  309 

rationalism,  and  from  the  effects  of  the  French  Revolu- 
tion back  to  orthodoxy  again.  For  pietism  is  founded 
on  orthodoxy.  Only  the  doctrines  of  grace  produce  the 
richest  religious  experience.  But  though  pietism  was  a 
return  to  orthodoxy,  it  was  not  a  return  to  the  former 
Calvinistic  orthodoxy,  but  rather  to  a  general  Evangeli- 
cal orthodoxy — that  is,  an  orthodoxy  that  was  connected 
with  the  supernatural  over  against  rationalism. 

An  interesting  question  comes  up  here, — how  far  the 
pietism  of  Switzerland  was  caused  by  the  pietism  of  Ger- 
many. The  general  impression  among  English  readers 
has  been  that  all  pietism  among  German-speaking  peo- 
ples came  from  Spener.  This  is  an  idea  which  the  his- 
torians of  Germany,  especially  the  Lutherans,  have  dili- 
gently fostered.  But  we  have  just  noted  that  the  Re- 
formed pietism  of  Germany  under  Untereyck  came  before 
the  Lutheran,  Spener.  But  the  Swiss  pietism,  did  it 
come  from  Germany,  or  not?  Its  origin  in  Switzerland 
seems  to  have  been  independent  of  Germany.  Guldin, 
the  first  pietist,  claims  he  had  had  no  contact  with  Ger- 
man pietists,  and  that  it  was  a  spontaneous  movement  in 
Switzerland.  Later,  however,  we  find  that  at  Schaff- 
hausen  the  pietistic  movement  was  somewhat  of  a  copy 
of  the  pietism  of  Germany,  as  it,  like  Franke,  founded 
an  orphanage.  So  that  we  may  say  that  pietism  in 
Switzerland  was  both  indigenous  and  also  related  to  the 
pietism  of  Germany.  The  truth  is  that  it  was  part  of  a 
great  spiritual  movement  that  went  over  Europe,  and 
which  appeared  spontaneously  in  many  places,  often 
widely  separated.  In  this  it  was  like  the  Reformation  of 
the  sixteenth  century;  indeed  it  was  a  new  Reformation, 
for  the  first  Reformation  was  reformation  of  doctrine  and 
cultus,  while  this  was  reformation  of  experience.  Per- 
haps it  might  still  better  be  called  a  return  to  the  earnest- 
ness and  fervor  of  the  Reformation  of  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury, which  had  been  chilled  by  deadness  in  the  church 


3io  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

in  the  early  seventeenth  century. 

One  cause  of  pietism  in  Switzerland  was  the  reaction 
against  the  dead  orthodoxy,  which  had  taken  the  life  out 
of  the  church.  Another  cause  was  the  need  of  stricter 
church-discipline  in  the  church,  so  that  the  unworthy 
would  be  kept  from  the  Lord's  Supper.  For  German 
Switzerland,  with  its  Zwinglian  form  of  church  govern- 
ment, had  no  church-discipline,  as  all  discipline  was  in 
the  hands  of  the  state  and  the  police.  Still  another  cause 
for  pietism  was  a  social  one.  In  some  of  the  cantons, 
especially  Bern,  only  the  sons  of  the  aristocracy  (for 
Bern  was  an  oligarchy,  as  were  the  other  cities  of  Switz- 
erland down  to  the  nineteenth  century)  could  enter  the 
ministry.  And  there  was  a  reaction  against  this  due  to 
the  democracy  of  the  New  Testament  and  Christianity. 
The  peasants'  war  in  the  seventeenth  century,  in  Switzer- 
land, had  revealed  the  breach  between  the  aristocrats, 
who  ruled,  and  the  farmers  or  country  people,  who  had 
no  share  in  the  government.  And  so  a  movement  toward 
breaking  up  the  stiffness  and  formalism  of  the  church 
came  in  as  a  reaction  against  all  this. 

The  pietism  of  Switzerland  might  be  divided  into  two 
periods, — the  earlier  and  the  later  period, — that  is,  first, 
the  pietism  at  the  end  of  the  seventeenth  and  during  the 
eighteenth  centuries,  and  then,  secondly,  the  pietism  of 
the  nineteenth  century.  But  there  is  no  clear  line  sep- 
arating them.  They  run  into  each  other.  In  the  first 
period  pietism  was  largely  that  of  individuals  in  the 
church,  while  in  the  nineteenth  it  becomes  a  great  move- 
ment of  the  church.  But  it  was  the  successes  and  even 
failures  of  the  individual  pietists  in  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury that  prepared  the  way  for  the  successes  of  pietism  in 
the  church  in  the  nineteenth. 


CHAPTER  I 
Bern 

Section  i 
its  early  pietism 

Pietism  in  Switzerland  began  at  Bern.  In  1689  four 
students  for  the  ministry  of  Bern  made  a  trip  together 
to  Geneva.  They  were  Samuel  Guldin,  Jacob  Dachs, 
Samuel  Schumacher  and  Christopher  Lutz.  These  young 
men  decided  to  make  their  trip  a  distinctively  religious 
one,  that  is,  no  disputing,  such  as  was  common  among 
students  then,  was  to  be  allowed  and  they  were  all  to 
endeavor  to  utilize  the  journey  for  spiritual  benefit.  At 
Geneva  Lutz  became  sick.  By  his  illness  not  only  was 
he  brought  to  a  profound  knowledge  of  his  spiritual  con- 
dition, but  the  rest  became  deeply  impressed  and  more 
closely  united  to  each  other.  After  their  return  to  Bern, 
they  were  accustomed  to  meet  together  morning  and  even- 
ing for  prayer.  This  was  the  beginning  of  pietism  or  the 
revival. 

Afterwards,  probably  in  1690,  Guldin,  Dachs  and 
Schumacher  took  another  trip  to  Holland.  Lutz  did  not 
go  with  them,  because  of  illness,  but  afterwards  went  to 
Leipsic,  where  he  came  into  contact  with  some  pietists. 
On  this  trip  to  Holland,  Schumacher  came  to  the  belief 
that  he  had  committed  the  unpardonable  sin  against  the 
Holy  Ghost  and  continued  in  this  belief  until  on  his  way 
home.  In  Holland  they  did  not  come  into  contact  with 
the  Dutch  pietists.  Guldin  on  his  return  to  Bern  became, 
August,  1692,  pastor  at  Stettlen,  near  Bern.     Schumacher 

311 


312  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

continued  fighting  against  his  doubts  and  without  assur- 
ance of  salvation  until  Christmas,  1692,  when  he  came 
to  the  light  and  wrote  about  it  to  Guldin.  This  greatly 
stirred  up  Guldin.  For  Guldin,  at  Stettlen,  was  having 
his  doubts  and  struggles.  He  had  been  sick  for  three 
months  with  an  illness  that  threatened  him  with  blindness. 
He  finally,  after  having  been  pastor  for  nine  months, 
became  so  discouraged  and  tired  of  his  struggles  that  he 
determined  to  give  up  the  ministry.  He  determined 
to  preach  his  farewell  sermon  August  4,  1693.  But  that 
morning,  between  nine  and  ten  o'clock,  the  light  of  con- 
version broke  into  his  soul  and  he  joyfully  continued  his 
ministry.  His  conversion  led  to  renewed  pastoral  ac- 
tivity and  a  new  kind  of  preaching.  Instead  of  the  stilted 
moralizing,  so  common  among  the  ministry  of  his  day, 
he  became  evangelistic,  preaching  faith,  the  love  of  Christ 
and  redemption.  The  movement  proved  contagious. 
Muller,  vicar  at  Belp,  near  Bern,  joined  Guldin  in  these 
pietistic  efforts.  Their  preaching  caused  a  great  sensa- 
tion. The  people,  attracted  by  it,  streamed  in  crowds 
to  their  churches,  to  hear  them.  The  pietistic  ministers 
would  come  together  for  conference  among  themselves, 
as  at  Stettlen,  Worb,  Wyl  and  Hochstetten. 

But  meanwhile  the  church  at  large,  and  especially  the 
opponents  of  pietism,  took  knowledge  of  their  actions. 
In  1796  Professor  Rudolph  placed  nineteen  theses  against 
pietism  and  pre-millenarianism  before  the  council  and 
they  were  sent  to  the  dekans  for  their  approval.  But  the 
articles  were  not  accepted  by  the  ministers.  There  was 
some  talk  of  trying  to  get  rid  of  Guldin  by  sending  him 
to  Gebensdorf,  on  the  outer  border  of  Aargau,  so  as  to 
get  him  as  far  away  from  the  center  of  the  canton  as 
possible,  but  it  was  not  done.  Finally  the  city  author- 
ities, somewhat  alarmed  at  the  crowds  that  the  pietists 
drew  to  their  churches,  took  action,  forbidding  the  people 
to  attend  worship  outside  of  their  respective  parishes. 


BERN 


313 


The  tide  seemed  to  be  running  against  pietism,  when  lo ! 
an  unexpected  thing  occurred.  Guldin  was  called  as  as- 
sistant pastor  to  the  most  prominent  position  in  Bern — 
the  cathedral.  This  caused  great  joy  among  the  pietists. 
Lutz  wrote  to  a  friend  in  Zurich,  playing  on  Guldin's 
name,  "Golden  (gulden)  tidings.  To-day  is  our  golden 
brother  Guldin  elected  as  assistant.  God,  who  does  won- 
ders, be  praised."  Guldin's  position  not  only  gave  prom- 
inence to  the  movement,  but  gave  it  influence,  for  Guldin 
as  a  city  pastor  was  therefore  a  member  of  the  ministerial 
convent  there.  Thus  the  stone  that  the  builders  rejected 
became  the  head-stone  of  the  corner.  His  preaching 
produced  the  same  sensation  as  elsewhere.  As  a  result, 
the  city  of  Bern  became  divided  into  two  parties,  pietist 
and  anti-pietist.  Guldin  was  the  leader  of  the  former, 
and  his  colleague,  Bachman,  the  head-minister  of  the 
cathedral,  of  the  latter. 

Pietism  also  began  affecting  the  students  in  Bern. 
They  began  the  visitation  of  the  sick  and  the  gathering 
of  the  waifs  into  a  catechetical  class.  Many  influential 
people,  some  of  them  magistrates,  joined  the  movement. 
The  school  council  was  controlled  by  its  friends,  Nicolas 
von  Rodt  being  a  member  of  it.  Two  events  helped  to 
bring  matters  to  a  crisis.  One  was  the  appearance  of 
foreign  pietists  in  1696,  when  two  from  Saxony  came 
to  Bern  and  held  conventicles  or  prayer-meetings  in  pri- 
vate houses.  For  there  was  this  difference  between  Ger- 
man and  Swiss  pietist  at  first :  The  German  emphasized 
the  holding  of  prayer-meetings.  The  Swiss  thus  far  had 
done  little  of  this  and  had  confined  themselves  to  the 
regular  church  services,  where  their  preaching  was  of  a 
more  evangelistic  type.  As  soon  as  prayer-meetings  be- 
gan to  be  held,  the  suspicions  of  the  Swiss  began  to  be 
aroused. 

The  other  direct  cause  was  the  preaching  of  pre- 
millenarianism  or  the  near  second-coming  of  Christ  by 


3i4  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

Samuel  Konig,  at  the  Hospital  Church,  Bern.  He  was  a 
brilliant  young  man,  being  looked  upon  as  a  miracle  of 
learning.  Born  1670,  he  studied  at  Bern,  where  he  ex- 
celled, especially  in  Hebrew.  He  then  traveled  to  Zurich, 
Holland  and  England.  In  England  he  was  led  to  em- 
brace pre-millenarianism,  which  at  that  time  was  looked 
upon  by  the  Reformed  of  the  continent  as  a  heresy.  He 
became  pastor  of  the  Hospital  Church  at  Bern  in  1693. 
His  preaching  was  with  great  power.  At  first  he  was 
opposed  to  pietism  because  the  pietists  seemed  to  lay  so 
little  stress  on  learning.  But  he  finally  went  over  to 
them,  it  is  said,  because  of  his  association  with  the  magis- 
trate, Nicolas  von  Rodt.  He  now  boldly  attacked  the 
coldness  and  formalism  of  the  church  of  his  day.  He 
declared  that  ministers  must  themselves  be  converted 
before  they  could  ever  expect  the  world  to  be  converted 
He  held  prayer-meetings  especially  for  the  students.  Thi 
breach  finally  occurred  in  1698.  We  have  seen  how  Pro- 
fessor Rudolph  had  tried  two  years  before  to  avoid  the 
coming  storm ;  now  it  broke.  A  commission  was  ap- 
pointed July  13,  1698,  consisting  of  Professors  Rudolph 
and  Wyss,  and  Revs.  Eyen  and  Bachman,  together  with 
five  secular  members.  Its  composition  boded  no  good  to 
the  pietists,  as  the  ministers  on  it  were  their  bitter  oppo- 
nents. Rudolph's  position  had  been  variously  stated. 
Schweizer  makes  him  the  arch-inquisitor  against  the 
pietists.  Treschsel  claims  he  was  friendly  and  mediated, 
and  compares  him  to  Voetius,  of  Holland,  who  united 
orthodoxy  and  pietism  in  himself. 

This  commission  called  the  pietists  before  them  and 
the  hearings  continued  from  September,  1698,  till  into 
the  following  year.* 

Konig  was  the  first  to  be  examined.  He  was  ex- 
amined about  his  statements  that  regeneration  was  a  ne- 

*  For  a  full  account  of  these  hearings,  see  Hadorn's  "History 
of  the  Pietism  in  Switzerland,"  pages  79-112. 


BERN  315 

cessity  to  a  minister.  Pre-millenarianism  was  not  men- 
tioned in  the  examination,  but  he  was  forbidden  to  preach 
it.  And  as  he  did  not  obey,  he  was  summoned  before 
them  again  March  22,  1699,  and  that  examination,  to- 
gether with  that  of  March  29,  was  in  regard  to  his  pre- 
millenarianism.  The  commission  contended  that  that 
doctrine  was  a  heresy  in  the  Reformed  Church  and  had 
never  been  preached  in  the  Bern  Church.  Konig  made 
an  unfortunate  impression,  and  probably  alienated  Pro- 
fessor Rudolph  more  from  the  pietists  than  before.  He 
said  that  if  he  was  charged  with  bringing  in  a  new  doc- 
trine (pre-millenarianism),  Professor  Rudolph  could  also 
be  charged  with  bringing  in  a  new  doctrine,  for  he  taught 
Cocceianism  in  his  book  in  the  Heidelberg  Catechism, 
which  was  a  doctrine  new  to  the  Second  Helvetic  Con- 
fession.    Rudolph  protested  strongly  against  this  charge. 

Guldin's  hearing  began  December  5.  The  charges 
against  him  were  that  he  caused  crowds  to  come  to  his 
church  service,  thus  producing  bitterness  on  the  part  of 
other  ministers.  He  was  charged  with  denying  the  au- 
thority of  the  state  over  the  church.  This  he  denied,  but 
said  he  would  not  obey  the  state  beyond  his  conscience. 
Another  charge  was,  that  he  read  foreign  pietistic  books, 
as  those  of  Bohme  and  Horch.  He  granted  it,  but  de- 
clared he  held  to  the  doctrines  of  the  Bern  synod  and  the 
Helvetic  Confession.  He  made  a  distinction  between 
churchly  pietists  and  separatists,  and  declared  that  he  be- 
longed to  the  former. 

Christopher  Lutz,  who  had  succeeded  Guldin  as  pas- 
tor at  Stettlen,  when  the  latter  had  been  called  to  Bern, 
had  had,  as  the  result  of  his  earnest  preaching  there, 
tremblings  on  the  part  of  individuals  in  the  congregation. 
He  had,  however,  protested  against  this.  But  he  had 
twenty-three  charges  brought  against  him. 

Pastor  Schumacher,  of  Melchnau,  was  examined 
about  his  reading  of  foreign  pietistic  books.     He  granted 


316  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

he  had  read  them,  but  declared  that  Bohme  was  to  him 
like  fog,  and  that  he  gained  more  from  the  Bible  and 
the  works  of  Luther  and  Calvin.  Others  were  examined, 
as  Dachs,  and  some  candidates  for  the  ministry,  as  Fue- 
ter  and  Fellenberg,  also  a  number  of  laymen  who  either 
held  or  had  attended  pietistic  meetings.  Muller  of  Belp 
was  examined,  as  to  whether  he  preached  pre-millenar- 
ianism,  which  he  did.  When  charged  with  holding  per- 
sons back  from  the  Lord's  Table,  he  replied  that  it  was 
necessary,  as  they  did  not  understand  the  meaning  of  the 
sacrament.  When  he  was  asked  whether  he,  like  Lutz, 
had  had  tremblings  in  his  congregation,  he  said  he  had 
preached  against  it. 

Hadorn's  judgment  of  these  cases  was  that  the 
charges  were  not  proved  against  them.  The  hearings 
closed  February,  1699,  although  Konig  was  recalled 
after  that.  The  report  came  before  the  council  June  8, 
1699.  I*  was  a  l°ng  report,  covering  28  pages  and  con- 
tained 10  chapters.  It  closed  with  giving  five  dangers 
of  pietism,  to  the  church,  state,  school,  family  and  the 
civil  relation. 

On  June  10  the  council  gave  its  decision.  Konig  had 
the  severest  sentence.  He  was  deposed  and  banished  from 
the  canton  in  spite  of  Rudolph's  intercession.  Guldin 
was  dismissed  from  his  position  at  the  cathedral  and 
Lutz  was  dismissed  from  Stettlen  (he  died  soon  after). 
They  were  forbidden  to  preach  under  pain  of  deposition. 
Hope  was  given  them  of  getting  other  positions,  but  un- 
important ones  far  away.  Muller  was  put  under  police 
surveillance.  Dachs  received  a  severe  censure  and  had 
to  promise  to  give  up  his  pietism.  Some  of  the  laymen 
were  fined  500  pounds  for  corresponding  with  foreign 
pietists.  Nicolas  von  Rodt  spoke  openly  against  the  ac- 
tions of  the  council.  He  said,  "If  you  again  take  action 
as  on  yesterday,  it  will  be  as  at  the  condemnation  of 
Christ,  Herod  and  Pilate  joined  together  and  crucified 


BERN 


317 


Him."  For  this  they  later  refused  him  the  right  to  vote, 
at  which  he  left  the  hall.  The  students  rose  up  against 
the  decision  of  the  council.  Three  of  them,  Knecht,  Fel- 
lenberg  and  Teschier,  had  to  leave  the  land.  Thus  was 
pietism  robbed  of  its  leaders  and  the  attempt  made  to 
crush  it. 

The  final  act  was  the  adoption  by  the  city  council, 
June  14,  1699,  of  a  new  formula  of  subscription  called  the 
Association  Oath.  It  was,  as  we  have  already  noticed  in 
connection  with  the  subscription  to  the  Helvetic  Consen- 
sus, a  double  oath;  first,  in  regard  to  doctrine  and  was 
directed  against  the  so-called  errors  of  Saumur,  in  France  ; 
second,  it  had  a  practical  aspect,  for  it  was  directed 
against  pietism.  In  addition  a  synodal  committee  was 
appointed,  which  met  July  5,  and  enlarged  the  nineteen 
theses,  once  proposed  by  Rudolph  in  1696,  to  twenty 
theses.  These  forbade  the  use  of  the  common  colloquial 
dialect  in  the  sermons,  the  preaching  of  pre-millenarian- 
ism,  the  holding  of  prayer-meetings  and  correspondence 
with  foreign  pietists.  Ten  of  the  council  refused  to  sign 
this  Association  Oath,  and  lost  their  places,  among  them 
Von  Wattenwyl  and  Von  Rodt.  The  pietists  answered 
these  theses  by  counter-theses.  For  this  the  authorities 
proceeded  to  sentence  them  one  by  one.  It  was  forbid- 
den for  members  of  one  parish  to  attend  worship  in  an- 
other parish.  To  facilitate  the  carrying  out  of  this,  the 
country  pastors  were  required  to  preach  in  the  cathedral 
at  Bern,  so  that  the  people  of  the  city  of  Bern  would 
not  need  to  go  to  the  country  to  hear  them,  and  thus 
violate  the  ordinance.  But  this  custom  of  getting  the 
country  preachers  to  preach  in  Bern  soon  fell  into  disuse. 

Konig  was  the  first  of  the  pietists  to  leave.  With- 
out waiting  for  official  notification  of  his  banishment,  he 
went  to  Herborn,  in  western  Germany,  where,  at  the 
Reformed  University,  he  hoped  to  gain  a  position  as 
teacher.     But  he  failed  because  of  his  association  there 


3i8  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

with  the  German  pietist,  Henry  Horch.     He  was  com- 
pelled to  leave  Herborn.     He  became  very  extreme  in 
his  bitterness  against  the  church     He  called  his  ordina- 
tion a  mark  of  the  beast  and  the  ministry  he  called  a 
Babylonish  antichrist.     It  is  evident  he  was  no  longer  a 
pietist,  but  a  separatist  from  the  church.     He  went  to 
Sayn-Wittgenstein,  in  Germany,  then  the  refuge  of  all 
the  sects.     At  Berleburg  he  wrote  in  1700  "The  Way  of 
Peace,"  in  which  he  attacked  the  Bern  authorities  and 
criticised  the  reformers  of  the  Reformation.     Bern  re- 
plied by  ordering  the  book  seized  and  confiscated.     Then 
he  went  to  Halle,  where  he  became  too  fanatical  even 
for  that  pietistic  place  and  university.     At  Budingen  he 
became  court-preacher  of  the   Count  of   Isenberg-Bud- 
ingen.     After  he  had  been  away  for  twelve  years,  he 
made  overtures  to  return.     But  Bern  had  not  forgotten 
his  bitter  attacks  in  his  book,  and  refused.     At  Budingen 
(171 1-29)   he  seems  to  have  become  milder  in  his  sep- 
aratism.    By  that  time,  too,  great  changes  had  taken  place 
in  Bern.     His  greatest  opponents  were  by  that  time  dead, 
as  Wyss  and  Eyen,  who  died  within  a  year  after  the  pro- 
mulgation of  the  Association  Oath.     Bachman  was  dead, 
after  seeing  his  own  son  become  a  pietist  at  Zurich.     He 
had  ordered  his  son  to  be  arrested  for  this,  but  his  age 
and  the  chagrin  caused  by  this  made  him  sick,  and  he 
died  ( 1709).    A  milder  spirit  prevailed  at  Bern,  so  that  by 
1730  Konig  received  permission  to  return,  but  he  did 
not  enter  the  pastorate.     Instead  he  became  professor  of 
Oriental    languages    and    mathematics.     He    could    not, 
however,  entirely   restrain  himself   from   all   connection 
with  foreign  pietists  and  inspirationists.     But  Bern  kept 
a  watchful  eye  on  him,  and  in  1737  again  forbade  the 
holding  of  prayer-meetings.     He  died  May  30,  1750. 

Schumacher  died  1701,  Muller  in  1705.  Christopher 
Lutz  also  died.  Guldin  retired  to  Muri  to  private  life. 
But  his  many  friends  desired  him  again  to  enter  the  min- 


BERN 


319 


istry.  Unlike  Konig,  he  lived  quietly,  not  provoking 
the  authorities,  attending  church  regularly,  but  abstain- 
ing from  the  Lord's  Supper  For  this  the  pastor  of  the 
place  denounced  him  before  the  authorities.  He  was 
called  before  the  council  and  ordered  to  take  the 
Association  Oath.  Broken  by  persecutions,  pressed 
by  his  friends  to  do  so,  he  finally  consented.  He 
received  a  call  to  Boltigen,  in  the  Simmenthal,  in 
1 701.  But  he  was  not  happy  because  he  had  signed 
the  oath.  His  conscience  reproved  him  for  it.  So 
he  asked  the  authorities  to  release  him  from  the  oath. 
They  at  once,  January  18,  1702,  deposed  him  from  the 
ministry,  and  banished  him  from  the  land.  He  stayed 
for  a  time  with  his  friend  Lewis  von  Muralt,  at  his  coun- 
try home  at  Rufenacht.  Then  he  went  to  friends  in 
north  Germany.  But  because  of  the  lack  of  religious 
freedom  there,  he  came  to  America  in  1710.*  He  died 
near  Philadelphia,  December  31,  1745. 

He  published  in  1718  three  booklets  directed  against 
the  Bern  authorities  for  their  treatment  of  the  pietists 
and  himself: 

1.  "Relation"  (30  pages),  which  contains  the  indict- 
ments against  them  and  the  decision  of  the  Bern  author- 
ities against  them. 

2.  "Apology"  (38  pages),  in  which  he  defends  him- 
self and  the  pietists  against  the  charges  made  against 
them. 

3.  "Theses  and  Contra-theses."  This  was  an  enlarge- 
ment of  the  "Apology."  That  was  defensive,  this  was  of- 
fensive and  aggressive  in  attacking  Bern. 

Bern  took  action  against  these  booklets,  forbidding 
their  circulation.  Dachs  finally  won  the  friendship  of 
Professor  Rudolph.     When  he  became  dekan  he  stopped 

*  For  his  life  in  America,  see  my  "History  of  the  Reformed 
Church  in  America,"  pages  68-88  and  207-224. 


320 


THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 


the  civil  processes  against  the  pietists.  In  1732  he  was 
elected  dekan  at  the  cathedral  at  Bern  without  giving  up 
his  pietism.*  Of  the  minor  pietists  Von  Rodt  was  com- 
pelled to  leave  Interlaken,  and  went  to  Magdeburg,  Ger- 
many, where  he  died.  Von  Muralt  was  banished  and 
went  to  Colombieres,  near  Geneva.  Many  of  the  pietists 
emigrated  to  Germany,  to  Sayn-Wittgenstein  and  Isen- 
burg-Biidingen.  Thus  pietism  seemed  crushed  out  of 
Bern,  but  it  was  not,  for  Lutz  continued  it. 

Section  2 
rev.  samuel  lutz  or  lucius 

This  remarkable  man  was  the  fruit  and  crown  of 
Bernese  pietism.  He  was  the  most  important  representa- 
tive of  the  early  pietism  in  Switzerland.  Pietism  ulti- 
mately redeemed  itself.  Not  only  was  Konig  permitted 
to  return,  but  Lutz  was  allowed  to  be  the  great  traveling 
evangelist  of  the  eighteenth  century.  He  combined  in  a 
remarkable  degree  fine  scholarship  with  the  genuine 
warmth  of  piety. 

He  was  born  August  10,  1674,  at  Biglen,  where  his 
father,  who  directed  his  education,  was  pastor.  At  the 
age  of  seven  he  could  speak  Latin,  and  without  hesitancy 
read  Greek  and  Hebrew  and  partly  understand  the  latter. 
An  interesting  story  is  told  of  him  when  he  was  six  years 
old.  His  father  gave  him  the  Heidelberg  Catechism  to 
learn,  and  that  in  Greek.  It  seemed  almost  impossible 
for  him  to  learn  it,  as  he  began  with  the  first  answer. 
He  found  it  so  hard  that  he  cried.  Whereat  his  father 
laughed  at  him.  This  so  roused  him  that  he  went  to  work 
and  learned  it  in  a  short  time. 

But,  at  the  age  of  nine,  his  father  died,  and  he  went 
to  Bern  to  study.     There  he  excelled  as  a  student,  es- 

*  See  Bloesch  II,  80. 


BERN 


321 


pecially  in  Hebrew,  mathematics  and  history.  He  was 
very  diligent,  learning  whole  books  of  ancient  authors 
by  heart,  by  getting  up  at  4  A.  M.  and  working  when 
other  students  were  at  sport.  Naturally  religious,  he 
now  grew  more  intellectually  than  spiritually.  As  he 
studied,  his  Bible  became  forgotten,  he  says,  in  self- 
ambition  and  pride  of  his  own  ability.  But  religion  still 
had  its  hold  on  him.  Once  having  heard  in  catechetical 
lectures  what  a  blessed  thing  justification  before  God 
was,  he  prayed  a  whole  night  for  it,  and  finally  fell  into 
a  boyish  sleep  without  finding  what  it  was.  The  first 
time  he  went  to  the  Lord's  Supper,  his  joy  was  very 
great,  so  that  tears  like  brooks  ran  down  his  cheeks,  and 
he  desired  nothing  less  than  to  be  a  martyr.  This  ray 
of  divine  grace  remained  in  him  long,  directing  his  heart. 

His  student  years  at  Bern  happened  to  come  at  the 
time  of  the  pietistic  awakening  at  the  end  of  the  seven- 
teenth century.  He  attended  the  meetings  of  the 
pietists  and  supported  their  views,  but  all  the  time  he 
said  he  was  not  converted.  Konig  was  his  especial 
friend,  being  only  four  years  older,  and  he  also  attended 
Guldin's  services.  But  he  never  accepted  the  pre-mil- 
lenarianism  of  Konig.  When  the  time  came  for  him  to 
apply  for  ordination  his  sympathy  with  pietism  preju- 
diced his  case.  Discouraged  by  this  opposition,  he  ac- 
cepted a  position  as  teacher  at  Yverdon  in  1695.  He 
held  off  from  making  application  to  enter  the  ministry 
for  a  number  of  years,  during  which  time  he  passed 
through  a  series  of  great  religious  struggles.  His  old 
pietistic  friends  had  either  been  banished  or  frightened 
out  of  their  pietism,  so  he  found  himself  thrown  en- 
tirely on  God. 

Finally,  in  1699,  occurred  his  conversion.  At  3  A.  M., 
when  the  Holy  Ghost  came  to  him  and  revealed  his 
great  sinfulness,  God  spoke  to  him  in  the  words  of 
Psalm  50:  16,  17,  20,  21,  each  word  like  a  thunder-clap. 


322  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

No  one  great  sin  came  before  his  mind  except  his  neg- 
lect of  the  good.  He  continued  under  this  deep  con- 
viction of  sin  for  three  hours.  Then  the  Lord  seemed 
to  go  away,  and  he  felt  himself  among  the  damned.  "I 
am  lost,"  he  cried.  In  despair  he  thought  of  suicide 
so  as  to  get  away  from  the  eyes  of  God.  From  this 
awful  act  he  was  saved  by  the  mercy  of  God  through 
Psalm  139:18.  In  the  morning,  as  his  friends  came 
to  waken  him,  he  had  the  feeling  that  if  Jesus  were  on 
earth  he  would  go  to  him  and  ask  if  there  were  no  grace 
so  as  to  give  him  hope.  Then  he  thought  that  if  Jesus 
is  no  longer  on  earth,  the  friends  of  Christ  were.  And 
he  sent  for  one  of  them,  a  pietist.  As  he  entered,  Lutz 
could  only  utter  the  words  of  the  prodigal:  "I  have 
sinned."  The  other,  with  rare  judgment,  at  once  quoted, 
in  reply,  the  promise:  "If  we  confess  our  sins  He  is 
faithful  to  forgive  us  our  sins  and  to  cleanse  us  from 
all  iniquity."  In  a  moment  Lutz  came  from  the  shadow 
of  death  to  the  glorious  light  of  forgiveness.  For  two 
weeks  he  was  full  of  trembling  and  praying  and  could 
think  of  nothing  else  than  the  cross.  So  his  years  of 
waiting  only  proved  a  better  preparation  for  his  future 
success  in  the  ministry;  yes,  better  than  all  his  previous 
years  of  study.  He  here  learned  to  know  Jesus  clearly 
as  his  own  personal  Saviour,  and  in  his  loving  com- 
munion with  God  he  began  to  lay  the  foundation  of  his 
burning  zeal  afterward. 

When  the  time  came  for  ordination,  in  1700,  the 
religious  commission  asked  him  whether  he  would  not 
accept  the  Association  Oath,  which  forbade  all  novelties, 
as  pietism.  As  it  was  explained  to  him,  he  declared  he 
could;  but  afterward  his  acceptance  of  it  caused  him 
much  restlessness  of  conscience.  As  he  accepted  it,  he 
was  ordained  in  1700.  He  preached  at  many  places, 
as  at  Adelboden.  But  the  religious  commission  kept 
their  eye  on  him.     Soon  complaints  came  in  against  him 


BERN  323 

that  he  was  making  the  people  weep  by  his  sermons, 
for  already  he  was  beginning  to  reveal  his  remarkable 
pulpit  oratory.  Then  he  became  assistant  at  Burgdorf, 
in  1702,  where  he  continued  his  studies.  Finally,  in 
1703,  he  accepted  a  vicariate  at  Yverdon.  But,  before 
going  there,  he  spent  much  time  in  study,  especially  of 
the  Bible.  He  knew  by  heart  a  whole  Hebrew  compen- 
dium, the  Greek  Hesiod,  a  rabbinical  dictionary,  and 
many  Greek  epistles  of  the  New  Testament.  He  was 
thoroughly  prepared  to  become  a  professor,  but  pre- 
ferred the  pastorate. 

But  his  field  at  Yverdon  was  very  hard.  The  au- 
thorities seem  to  have  sent  him  there  so  that  he  might 
wear  out  his  pietistic  excess  of  zeal  in  hard  work  on 
poor  ground.  That  part  of  Bern  was  French,  and  the 
Germans,  to  whom  he  was  to  preach,  were  rough  and 
ignorant.  Scattered  in  the  mountains,  they  would  often 
have  to  walk  three  or  four  hours  so  as  to  attend  church, 
and  be  so  tired  from  overwork  and  from  their  long 
walk  that  they  would  only  go  to  sleep.  They  had  no  re- 
alization of  their  sinful  condition  or  much  taste  for 
religion.  He  looked  on  them  as  a  dead  sea.  They  had 
long  been  pastorless,  which  made  matters  worse.  He 
succeeded  in  getting  better  results  from  some  of  the 
French  there.  He  especially  influenced  the  young  peo- 
ple who  came  to  Yverdon  to  school  or  to  spend  their 
vacations.  Many  were  converted  by  his  preaching  and 
carried  its  influence  to  their  various  homes. 

But  opposition  arose.  The  French  pastor  there  was 
opposed  to  pietism.  It  has  been  supposed  that  the  Vaud 
clergy  were  liberal  because  they  were  opposed  to  the 
Helvetic  Consensus.  But  their  learning  was  often 
worldly.  In  endeavoring  to  emancipate  themselves  from 
the  yoke  of  a  school-theology  they  often  went  to  the 
other  extreme  of  formalism.  For  Saumurism  and  pietism 
did  not  necessarily  go  together,  though  they  were  con- 


324  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

demned  together  by  the  Association  Oath.  In  1705  the 
classis  of  Yverdon  brought  charges  against  him  as  a 
destroyer  of  the  peace  of  the  church  by  his  sharp  preach- 
ing and  his  warning  to  the  people  against  coming  un- 
worthily to  the  Lord's  Supper.  These  complaints  con- 
tinued for  two  years,  and,  in  September,  1707,  two  depu- 
ties from  Bern  were  sent  to  make  an  investigation,  one  of 
them  Professor  Rudolph.  They  declared  Lutz  innocent, 
but  ordered  his  assistant,  Faigoz,  to  be  dismissed  for 
his  pietism.  He  published  "Thoughts  on  Present  Day 
Prophecies,"  in  which,  contrary  to  his  former  friend 
Konig,  who  foretold  that  the  end  of  Turkey  would  oc- 
cur in  1717,  he  held  that  most  of  the  prophecies  either 
referred  to  heaven  or  were  to  be  spiritually  interpreted. 
The  greatest  evil,  he  said,  was  not  the  Turk  or  the  pope, 
but  sin. 

Then  his  health  failed,  and  he  went  to  the  baths  in 
Aargau  and  Weissenberg.  This  was  the  beginning  of 
his  travels.  At  the  baths  he  preached  with  great  ac- 
ceptance. He  visited  Basle,  where  he  was  deeply  im- 
pressed by  Holbein's  "Christ  on  the  Cross."  In  1722  he 
went  to  Frankfort-on-the-Main,  in  Germany,  and  there, 
in  the  Reformed  church,  preached  one  of  his  most  fa- 
mous sermons,  "Reflections  on  the  Heavenly  Pearl."  On 
September  24,  1724,  he  preached  at  St.  Gall  on  the  sixth 
commandment  and  on  Christian  love.  St.  Gall  gave  him 
a  call,  but  he  declined.  His  fame,  through  his  preach- 
ing, extended  far  beyond  his  parish,  and  his  published 
works  proved  more  influential  than  his  pastorate.  He 
hoped  to  be  called  to  one  of  the  churches  in  the  city  of 
Bern.  But  the  authorities  in  the  canton  seemed  to  use 
their  influence  against  him  because  of  his  pietism,  and 
prevent  him,  if  possible,  from  changing  even  to  an  as- 
sistant's place  there.  But  what  he  lost  among  them  he 
gained  among  the  people  by  his  popularity  as  a  preacher. 
He  was  called  to  churches  in  other  lands,  as  Zweibrucken 


BERN 


325 


and  Cotha  and  Biidingen,  where  Konig  labored.  He  was 
tempted  to  accept  the  call  given  by  the  Count  of  Isen- 
berg-Biidingen  to  Biidingen.  But,  in  1726,  he  accepted 
a  call  to  Amsoldingen.  His  congregation  at  Yverdon 
had,  by  this  time,  learned  to  love  him  and  was  loth  to 
give  him  up  after  a  pastorate  of  twenty-three  years.  At 
Amsoldingen  his  fame  had  preceded  him,  and  even  those 
who  did  not  agree  with  his  pietism  came  to  hear  him  for 
his  eloquence.  In  1728  he  was  made  synodical  preacher. 
He  was  also  elected  dekan  of  his  classis.  At  first  the 
neighboring  pastors  were  somewhat  shy  of  him.  Though 
he  was  glad  to  preach  anywhere,  yet  very  few  opened 
their  pulpits  to  him  as  did  the  pastors  at  Blumenstein 
and  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Beatus. 

Lutz  laid  great  stress  on  pastoral  visitation.  He 
used  all  occasions,  even  secular  weddings  and  social 
gatherings,  as  opportunities  for  spiritual  conversation. 
But  though  a  pietist  he  was  against  inspirationism  and 
methodism  or  mechanical  religious  experience.  Finding 
it  difficult  to  meet  his  people  in  their  homes,  he  would 
announce  the  time  when  he  would  come  to  see  them. 
But  as  so  many  came  that  there  was  no  room  in  the 
private  houses,  he  began  to  hold  his  house  visitation  in 
the  open  air  and  held  meetings  at  a  certain  place,  named 
Langenbiihlwalde,  a  forest  beside  the  public  road.  In 
this  open-air  gathering  any  one  could  ask  him  ques- 
tions, especially  on  the  Bible,  or  seek  comfort  and  counsel. 
The  novelty  of  the  movement  attracted  many  to  it.  On 
October  22,  1731,  two  Moravians  were  present  at  such 
a  meeting,  one  of  them  Christian  David,  the  missionary. 
They  greatly  wondered  at  the  freedom  Lutz  enjoyed  in 
holding  such  services.  But  the  visit  of  these  Moravians 
caused  complaints  to  be  brought  against  him,  and  the  re- 
ligious commission  took  up  the  matter.  They  gave  Lutz, 
privately,  their  decision,  and  nothing  further  was  heard. 
But   Lutz   gave   up   these   open-air   meetings   owing   to 


326  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

another  complaint.  He,  however,  paid  more  attention  to 
pastoral  work,  holding  prayer  meetings  daily. 

He  gave  great  attention  to  the  young  in  catechization. 
He  was  wont  to  say,  "I  would  not  exchange  my  catechi- 
zation for  a  thousand  dollars."  And  he  made  his  cate- 
chization tell,  for  he  made  its  aim  to  be  the  conversion 
of  the  catechumens.  He  was  a  great  lover  of  little  chil- 
dren and  knew  well  how  to  win  their  love.  Professor 
Konig  once  visited  him,  in  1731,  and  urged  the  children 
to  care  kindly  for  their  white-haired  pastor.  At  his  ad- 
vice they  melted  into  tears  of  affection  for  Lutz. 

But,  as  at  Yverdon,  so  here,  he  did  not  limit  him- 
self to  his  own  congregation.  He  felt  himself  to  be 
called  to  be  an  evangelist  at  large.  And  he  became  the 
great  evangelist  of  the  Bernese  Oberland.  He  would 
go  wherever  pastor  and  people  desired  him  to  come. 
He  preached  at  the  Castle  Rougemont,  near  Saanen, 
also  at  Lauenen,  Zweisimmen,  Boltigen,  St.  Beatenburg 
and  Interlaken.  Everywhere  he  was  gladly  received. 
Many  of  his  sermons  he  was  led  to  publish.  These  he 
distributed  as  tracts.  One  of  the  best  of  these  is  "The 
Swiss  Canaan,"  in  which  he  depicts  very  finely  the  life 
of  the  Swiss  farmer  and  shepherd  of  the  Alps,  their 
customs  and  methods  of  business.  He  utilizes  all  these 
for  spiritual  purposes.  His  style  in  the  sermon  was  sim- 
ple but  striking.  Sometimes  he  is  carried  away  by  his 
imagination.  Still  they  are  full  of  spiritual  truth  and  sanc- 
tified common  sense.  His  tours  he  generally  made  in  sum- 
mer. Thus,  in  June,  1731,  he  was  at  St.  Beatenburg  and 
Interlaken.  In  August  of  that  year  he  was  at  Friitigen, 
where  he  preached  with  such  power  that  he  melted  pastor 
and  people  into  tears.  In  1734  the  religious  commission 
forbade  his  evangelistic  trips,  as  they  feared  he  was  not 
giving  time  enough  to  his  own  parish.  He  obeyed  them 
only  for  a  year,  and  then  he  was  at  it  again,  as  he  vis- 
ited the  Emmenthal,   1735.     Although  he  was  away  so 


BERN  327 

much,  yet  his  congregation  made  no  complaints,  be- 
cause they  so  loved  him.  All  this  he  could  the  more  easily 
do,  as  he  was  unmarried  and  had  no  household  cares  to 
keep  him  at  home.  Through  these  trips  he  made  a  wide 
acquaintance  and  was  visited  by  many  friends,  as  D'An- 
noni,  of  Basle,  and  Count  Henry  Earnest  of  Stollberg- 
Wernigerode. 

In  1738,  after  a  pastorate  at  Amsoldingen  of  twelve 
years,  he  was  called  to  Diesbach,  a  large  congregation 
not  far  from  Amsoldingen.  This  occurred  through  the 
influence  of  the  family  of  Von  Wattenwyl,  long  known 
for  their  sympathy  with  pietism.  It  was  no  small  thing 
for  a  man  of  his  age  (he  was  65)  to  undertake  a  new 
charge.  The  congregation  at  Amsoldingen  was  loth  to 
give  him  up.  But  he  felt  this  was  a  larger  field  and 
accepted.  At  Diesbach  he  found  the  congregation  in  a 
very  neglected  state.  They  were  shy  of  him  at  first  for 
his  pietism,  opposed  to  his  personal  examination  about 
their  piety;  for  such  things,  they  thought,  belonged  to 
the  separatists  of  that  region  and  not  to  the  church. 
Lutz  became  somewhat  frightened  at  this,  and  laid  hold 
of  matters  with  all  his  might,  at  first  perhaps  too  severely. 
But  he  and  the  congregation  soon  got  to  know  each  other 
better.  He  found,  too,  that  Diesbach  had  a  number  of 
sect  people,  as  the  Antonians.  As  they  were  increas- 
ing, the  religious  commission,  in  1741,  ordered  him  to 
stay  at  home  and  not  go  away  so  much.  And  he  did 
not  go  away  till  1744,  when  he  went  to  the  baths  at 
Baden  and,  in  connection  with  it,  visited  Zurich  and 
Schaffhausen.  But,  on  account  of  some  opposition  to 
pietism  as  well  as  his  increasing  age,  he  did  not  travel 
as  much  as  before.  His  house,  however,  became  a 
gathering  place  for  all  pietistically  inclined.  Strangers 
would  come  from  a  great  distance  to  spend  Sunday  with 
him  and  hear  him  preach.  In  1746  his  health  began  to 
fail.     His  eyesight  became  poor,  so  he  could  no  longer 


328  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

read  or  write.  Two  years  before  his  death  he  said,  "My 
Lord  loved  me  so  strongly  last  night  that  I  could 
hardly  bear  it."  In  February,  1750,  though  not  well,  he 
finished  a  course  of  sermons  on  the  Lord's  Prayer. 
Then,  alternating  with  his  assistant,  he  began  preaching 
on  the  sufferings  of  our  Lord.  On  Easter  morning  he 
ascended  his  pulpit  for  the  last  time.  He  was  so  weak 
that  they  had  to  help  him  there  and  support  him.  But 
when  he  had  once  started  to  preach  he  revealed  such 
strength  as  astonished  all.  Increasing  weakness  and 
fainting  spells  gradually  brought  him  near  the  grave. 
"Soon,"  said  he,  "I  will  be  beyond  the  mountains  and 
over  the  sea."  To  his  niece,  who  visited  him  then,  he 
said,  "I  am  studying  the  first  answer  of  the  Heidelberg 
Catechism  about  faith  and  justification,  and  I  find  it 
very  comforting  and  precious."  He  died  May  28,  1750, 
aged  76,  in  the  fiftieth  year  of  his  ministry. 

Lutz  was  a  pietist  in  the  best  sense  of  the  word, 
churchly,  for  he  was  against  separation  from  the  church. 
He  had  great  common-sense,  by  which  he  avoided  fanati- 
cism on  the  one  side,  and  placated  the  state  authorities 
on  the  other.  His  great  labor  as  an  evangelist  is  proved 
by  the  fact  that  he  preached  in  108  pulpits  in  and  outside 
of  Switzerland.  His  preaching  was  not  oratorical,  but 
always  spiritual  and  impressive.  The  topics  of  his  books 
were  often  very  rhetorical,  as  "A  Fragrant  Bunch  of 
Beautiful  and  Healthy  Flowers  for  Heaven,"  published 
at  Basle,  1736,  and  "A  New  Bunch,"  etc.,  published  in 
1753.  But  such  titles  were  the  custom  of  his  time.  His 
published  sermons  are  very  long.  Thus  one,  on  Whit- 
sunday, covered  260  small  pages,  and  his  prayer  in  con- 
nection with  it  covered  40  pages.  "His  writings,"  says 
Hadorn,  "were  very  much  sought  after  and  reminded 
one  of  the  best  works  of  the  Moravians."  He  latinized 
his  name,  after  the  custom  of  his  time,  into  Lucius  (lux, 
a  light),  and  he  became,  like  John  the  Baptist,  a  burning 


BERN  329 

and  a  shining  light  to  many — a  modern  Ecolampadius 
(whose  name  also  meant  lamp),  and,  like  Ecolampadius, 
he  brought  a  reformation  into  Bern.  He  redeemed  piet- 
ism from  the  reproach  that  hung  to  it  in  Bern.  And  the 
influence  of  his  work  made  it  easier  to  start  in  the  nine- 
teenth century  such  pietistic  movements  as  the  Evan- 
gelical Society  of  Bern. 


CHAPTER  II 
Basle 

Section  i 

rev.  jerome  d'annoni 

In  this  canton,  as  in  Bern,  a  prominent  witness  for 
pietism  arose  in  Jerome  D'Annoni.  He  was  born  Sep- 
tember 12,  1697,  at  Basle.  His  father  was  a  descendant 
of  the  Italian  refugees  from  Locarno.  The  father  prayed 
much  for  the  little  boy,  but  died  when  the  son  was  only 
six  years  old.  The  boy  showed  early  signs  of  piety. 
Once  he  came  to  his  mother  with  tears  in  his  eyes,  fear- 
ing that  he  had  committed  a  sin  against  the  Holy  Ghost. 
Though  often  tempted  to  sin  and  to  doubt,  yet  God 
watched  over  him.  Affliction  laid  hold  of  him,  for,  from 
his  tenth  year,  he  had  a  lame  foot.  He  studied  for  the 
ministry,  but  would  have  preferred  becoming  a  soldier, 
only  his  lameness  prevented.  So  he  compromised  by  en- 
tering the  ministry,  hoping  he  might  become  a  field- 
chaplain.  As  a  theological  student,  he  says,  he  was  frivo- 
lous and  worldly.  Music  and  the  dance  had  more  attrac- 
tions to  him  than  study. 

But  a  good  angel  appeared  to  him  in  the  Baroness 
von  Planta,  who  had  greatly  aided  his  mother  after  his 
father's  death,  and  who,  once,  in  order  to  cure  his  foot, 
took  him  to  the  baths.  This  good  lady,  who  was  the 
center  of  a  pietistic  circle,  made  him  acquainted  with 
antistes  Samuel  Werenfels.  D'Annoni  told  Werenfels  that 
his  studies  had  little  attractions  to  him.  Werenfels  ad- 
vised him  to  read  the  Bible  and  copy  and  study  Oster- 

330 


BASLE  331 

wald's  Theology,  which  had  just  then  appeared.  He 
now  really  began  to  study  diligently  and  a  longing  came 
to  him  that  he  might  be  something  more  than  a  mere 
hireling  in  the  ministry. 

He  was  ordained  April  24,  1719.  But  God  so  circum- 
stanced him  that  he  was  converted.  In  November,  17 19, 
he  became  private  teacher  in  the  family  of  the  widow 
Im-Thurm,  at  Schaffhausen.  There  he  became  sick,  very 
sick,  suffering  from  night-sweats.  This  led  him  to  deep 
seriousness  and  through  many  struggles.  The  religious 
teaching  he  had  to  give  and  the  spiritual  atmosphere  of 
that  home  brought  him  under  deep  conviction.  He  felt 
he  must  either  change  his  life  or  that  only  one  thing 
awaited  him — to  die  and  be  lost.  He  finally  made  known 
his  condition  to  Mrs.  Im-Thurm,  who  tried  to  comfort 
him,  though  in  tears.  While  in  this  convicted  state, 
just  as  Saul  of  old  met  Ananias,  who  led  him  to  Christ, 
D'Annoni  met  John  Conrad  Ziegler,  one  of  the  ministers 
who  had  been  cast  out  of  the  ministry  at  Schaffhausen 
because  of  his  pietism.  Ziegler,  however,  had  remained 
there  in  religious  work,  as  in  the  holding  of  prayer-meet- 
ings. When  D'Annoni  confided  his  case  to  Ziegler,  the 
latter  told  him  to  read  the  33d  chapter  of  Job,  a  chap- 
ter which  he  himself  had  read  when  under  conviction. 
This  led  to  D'Annoni's  conversion.  He  then  preached 
in  the  neighboring  church  at  Unter  Stammenheim  on 
2  Timothy  2 :  19,  and  publicly  declared  that  he  had  been 
converted,  and  stated  that  he  had  given  himself  entirely 
to  Christ.  He  more  and  more  joined  himself  to  the 
pietists  at  Schaffhausen  and  would  take  part  in  their 
prayer-meetings  in  the  Rose  garden  at  Schaffhausen. 
His  association  with  the  pietists  provoked  opposition.  He 
was  finally  summoned  to  answer  before  the  Zurich  au- 
thorities (1724),  but  nothing  came  of  it.  In  1726  he 
left  his  position  as  private  teacher  and  became  assistant 
at  Sissach  for  a  time.     Later,  he  again  returned  to  his 


332 


THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 


former  position  as  teacher  in  the  Im-Thurm  family.   This 
he  retained  till  the  death  of  the  widow  in  1732,  having 
been,  altogether,  in  the  service  of  that  family  for  thir- 
teen years.     His  association  with  them  exerted  a  great 
influence  on  him.     Though  his  mistress  did  not  agree  with 
him  in  all  his  acts  as  a  pietist,  yet  his  travels  with  her 
not  only  broadened  him  but  brought  him  into  connection 
with  pietists  everywhere.     When  he  visited  Basle  he  was 
received  with  joy  by  the  Baroness  Von  Planta,  who  looked 
on  him  as  her  own  son.     In  1730  he  was  sent  with  his 
ward  to  French  Switzerland,  that  the  latter  might  learn 
French,  and  they  wintered  at  Neuchatel  and  Lausanne. 
Then  he  went  to  the  baths  of  Leuk  and  also  spent  three 
days  at  Amsoldingen  with  Lutz,   the  pietist,  of   Bern. 
After  that  the  mother  was  about  sending  her  son  to  the 
university  under  his  care  when  she  died.     He  had  al- 
ready gone  as  far  as  the  Palatinate  when  the  news  of  her 
death  arrived.     So  he  spent  some  time  in  Germany,  as 
at   Schwarzenau,  and  in   Sayn-Wittgenstein,  that  home 
of  the  sects.     Its  count  wanted  him  to  accept  a  parish 
of  Birkelbach,  but  he  declined.     He  also  visited  Ter- 
steegen,  at  Muhlheim;  Boerhaave,  at  Leyden,  and  also 
Zinzendorf.     He  visited   Halle,   that  home  of   German 
pietism.     He  returned  to  Basle  in  1733,  where  he  pub- 
lished the  devotional  works  of  Lutz.     For  a  long  time 
he  did  not  take  a  charge,  fearing  that  his  pietistic  preach- 
ing might  cause  trouble.     But  neither  did  he  wish  to 
be  a  separatist,  for  his  travels  had  opened  his  eyes  to 
the   danger   of   sects.      He   was   wont   to   say   that   the 
learning  of   Babylon    (the  church)    often  goes   only  to 
Nineveh — that  is,  from  one  sect  to  another.     After  his 
return  to  Basle  he  published  a  hymn-book  which  was  so 
excellent  that  antistes  Merian   ordered  him  to   publish 
a  larger  book,  of  300  hymns.     These  were  to  be  added 
to  the  Psalms  of  Lobwasser,  which  had  been  usually  sung 
in    the    churches.     D'Annoni's    hymn-books    proved    so 


BASLE  333 

popular  that,  by  the  time  of  his  death,  the  hymn-book  had 
been  enlarged  to  400  hymns  and  had  gone  through  seven 
editions.  It  continued  in  use  till  1809  in  the  city  of  Basle, 
and  in  Basle-land  until  1845. 

Finally,  at  the  urgent  request  of  his  friends,  at  the 
age  of  forty-two,  he  became  pastor  at  Waldenburg,  in 
1740.  His  earnest  preaching  there  soon  caused  a  sensa- 
tion and  produced  large  results,  just  as  had  happened 
to  Lutz.  Like  Lutz  he  invited  his  members  to  his  house 
for  family  worship  and  closed  the  service  with  a  homily. 
This  movement  began  gradually.  First,  the  schoolmas- 
ter's wife,  seeing  how  excellent  his  family  devotions  were, 
asked  to  be  allowed  to  come  to  them.  Then,  with  tears 
in  her  eyes,  she  begged  that  her  husband  might  be  al- 
lowed to  attend.  Then  they  asked  that  others  be  per- 
mitted to  come.  And,  finally,  so  many  came  that  he  had 
to  make  a  regular  arrangement  about  the  meetings  at 
the  parsonage.  Those  on  Mondays  and  Thursdays  were 
for  the  men,  and  those  on  Tuesdays  and  Fridays  were 
for  the  women.  He  would  generally  read  a  portion  of 
Scripture,  make  an  address,  offer  prayer,  and  then  a 
hymn  would  be  sung.  Soon  the  people  of  other  villages 
were  drawn  to  hear  his  earnest  sermons.  For  a  long 
time  these  pietistic  tendencies  caused  no  opposition.  But 
then  the  innkeeper  of  the  village  began  to  spread  false 
reports  about  his  meetings.  The  innkeeper  was  a  cousin 
of  the  magistrate  of  the  village — Wagner — and  preju- 
diced the  latter  against  D'Annoni.  Meanwhile  his  work 
became  too  severe  for  his  weak  constitution,  and  he  then 
went  to  the  baths  to  recuperate.  But  all  the  while  the 
magistrate  was  persecuting  him.  Finally  a  circumstance 
occurred  that  brought  matters  to  a  climax.  D'Annoni 
wrote  a  letter  to  the  son  of  the  magistrate,  who  had 
been  guilty  of  a  notorious  sin,  asking  him  not  to  come  to 
the  communion.  The  result  was  more  bitter  strife.  The 
neighboring  pastor  at  Laufenfingen  was  also  against  all 


334 


THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 


pietistic  movements.  Wagner,  the  magistrate,  and  this 
pastor  brought  charges  against  D'Annoni  before  antistes 
Merian.  But  D'Annoni  made  such  an  able  reply  that 
nothing  came  of  it.  He  claimed  that  if  it  was  not  con- 
sidered a  crime  for  the  farmers  to  go  to  the  saloon  and 
the  ten-pin  alley,  they  ought  to  be  permitted  to  go  to 
the  parsonage  where  he  had  nothing  more  dangerous  than 
family  worship. 

His  earnest  preaching  led  many  from  other  congrega- 
tions to  come  to  his  services.  When  others  found  fault 
with  him  for  this  he  replied :  "I  can  not  lock  this  church. 
I  will  preach  to  whoever  comes  to  it.  But  I  will  not 
administer  the  communion  to  a  member  of  any  other 
congregation.  But  attendance  on  my  religious  services 
must,  and  shall,  be  free  to  all."  Owing  to  his  ill  health 
he  felt  like  seeking  a  lighter  charge.  He  was  called, 
in  1742,  by  Count  of  Stolberg  Wernigerode,  to  the  posi- 
tion of  superintendent  of  Cotha,  but  refused  mainly  be- 
cause of  his  frequent  illness. 

In  1747  he  became  pastor  at  Muttenz,  near  Basle. 
Many  of  the  people  there  were  suspicious  of  his  pietism, 
but  antistes  Merian,  in  introducing  him,  spoke  very 
highly  of  his  work  in  his  previous  charge.  Soon  some 
of  his  members  came  to  him  asking  for  meetings  such 
as  he  had  had  at  Waldenburg.  He  started  a  number  of 
prayer-meetings,  holding  them  on  Sunday.  And  while 
the  worldly  were  at  their  card-playing  and  ten-pins,  these 
pious  ones  (die  Stillen  im  Lande)  would  gather  together 
to  talk  over  and  pray  over  the  sermon  they  had  heard 
that  day.  D'Annoni  would  visit  these  meetings  one 
after  the  other,  thus  watching  over  them  so  that  no 
fanaticism  or  any  tendency  to  separatism  would  appear. 
His  labors  soon  attracted  attention.  On  pleasant  Sun- 
days many  of  the  wealthy  people  of  Basle  would  come 
out  in  their  carriages  to  hear  him  and  others  would 
walk  out,  as  Muttenz  is  not  far  from  Basle.     The  crowds 


BASLE 


335 


at  his  church  became  so  great  that  chairs  had  to  be 
brought  in  from  the  neighboring  houses.  Many  who 
came  at  first  out  of  curiosity  came  again  because  of  the 
deep  impression  he  had  made  on  them.  In  1752  the 
city  council  of  Basle  ordered  that  the  city  gates  be  closed 
on  Sunday  mornings,  so  none  could  get  out  to  go  to 
D'Annoni's  services,  for  they  called  him  a  separatist. 
But  he  was  not — indeed,  was  opposed  to  separatism.  In 
1754  he  had  some  difficulty  in  restraining  the  efforts  of 
separatists  in  his  congregation.  For,  as  separatism  had 
so  bitterly  attacked  the  church,  he  had  lost  all  sympathy 
with  them.  Another  charge  the  Basle  ministers  made 
against  him  was  that  he  did  not  preach  in  the  customary 
stiff  language  of  the  pulpit,  but  used  the  simpler  lan- 
guage of  the  people.  He  replied,  "I  must  preach  so  that 
my  dear  farmers  understand.  I  do  not  mean  to  preach 
to  chairs  or  benches."  When  it  came  to  his  turn  to 
preach  in  the  cathedral  at  Basle  (for  it  was  the  custom 
for  each  minister  to  preach  one  Sunday  each  year  in 
the  cathedral),  the  attendance  would  be  so  large  that 
many  had  to  stand.  Here,  too,  he  found  an  enemy,  as  he 
had  at  Waldenburg,  who  opposed  his  pietism,  a  Dr. 
Huber,  who  had  once  been  his  fellow-student.  The  lat- 
ter became  jealous  of  him  and  tried  to  stir  up  the  young 
men  of  the  town  against  him.  But  D'Annoni  continued 
his  pietistic  efforts. 

D'Annoni's  home  became  a  center  of  religious  influ- 
ance  and  also  a  resort  for  travelling  Christians.  Thus, 
Schultz,  the  Jewish  missionary,  visited  him.  D'Annoni 
was  also  interested  in  every  religious  movement.  He 
was  interested  in  Foreign  Missions,  as  in  the  mission  of 
Halle  in  southern  India.  It  happened  that  during  his 
ministry  there  was  a  persecution  at  Lucerne.  A  carter, 
Schmedlin,  had  been  awakened  there  by  reading  his  Bible. 
Then  he  happened  to  come  into  contact  with  the  awak- 
ened of  Bern  and  of  Basle.     After  his  conversion  he 


336  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

won  thirty  to  forty  converts  from  Catholicism.  For  this 
he  was  imprisoned  in  Lucerne  and  threatened  with  being 
burned.  His  wife  and  friends  were  driven  out  of  the 
canton.  D'Annoni  visited  the  wife  at  Wyl  and  held 
meetings  in  her  home,  hoping  thus  to  comfort  her. 
D'Annoni  took  great  interest  in  their  case.  He  also, 
about  1756,  founded  a  society  of  Good  Friends,  which 
was  the  first  step  toward  a  Tract  or  Mission  Society, 
which  came  later,  as  we  shall  see. 

For  the  last  ten  years  of  his  life  he  was  often  unable 
to  preach,  yet  he  kept  watch  over  his  congregation.  At 
last  God  took  him,  October  10,  1770.  He  was  a  very 
spiritually  minded  man.  His  motto  was :  "He  that  knows 
Jesus  Christ  has  used  his  time  well."  His  tomb  bears 
the  inscription:  "After  the  cross,  the  crown."  He  also 
wrote  a  number  of  hymns.  His  Pentecostal  hymn*  was 
the  most  popular.  He  was,  like  Lutz,  a  churchly  pietist, 
opposed  to  all  separatism  from  the  church.  He  greatly 
helped  to  prepare  Basle  to  become  the  home  of  pietism 
at  the  beginning  of  the  next  century. 

Section  2 

the  religious  activity  of  basle 

Basle  became  the  center  of  religious  life  for  Switzer- 
land and  Germany  at  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury. One  religious  organization  after  another  was 
formed  there  and  all  became  active.  D'Annoni  had  not 
yet  died  when  the  first  came  into  being.  It  was  what 
we,  in  English,  would  call  a  Young  Men's  Christian  As- 
sociation. The  present  Young  Men's  Christian  Associa- 
tion of  the  world  was  not  originated  by  Sir  George 
Williams,  of  London,  although  he  gets  a  great  deal  of 
credit    for   it   among   English-speaking   lands.     And   he 

*  Es  sass  ein  frommes   Hauflein. 


BASLE  337 

ought  to  have  great  credit  for  his  share  in  popularizing 
its  work.  But  long  before  George  Williams,  a  society 
of  that  kind  was  organized  in  Switzerland.  Not  Eng- 
land, but  Switzerland,  deserves  the  credit  of  being  the 
founder  of  Young  Men's  Christian  Societies. 

There  was  a  pious  pastor  at  St.  Alban's  Church, 
Basle,  named  Meyenrock.  He  had  been  called  there  in 
1760.  He  it  was  who  founded  this  Young  Men's  Chris- 
tian Association.  It  was  composed  only  of  men  and  had 
several  rules  for  its  members  like  the  pledges  of  the 
present  Brotherhood  of  Andrew  and  Philip,  to  prayer 
and  service.     Its  pledges  for  its  members  were  five : 

1.  To  remain  true  to  the  pure  doctrine  of  the  word 
of  God,  and  of  the  Apostles. 

2.  To  avoid  all  sectism  or  separation  from  the 
Church  or  anything  that  led  to  it. 

3.  Each  one  was  to  deal  candidly  with  God,  himself 
and  his  fellow-men. 

4.  Therefore,  each  should  not  only  be  free  to  remind 
others  of  their  duty,  even  to  rebuke  them,  indeed,  it  was 
their  duty  so  to  do. 

5.  They  were  to  try  and  develop  a  good  confidence 
in  one  another. 

This  association,  therefore,  was  designed  to  guard 
against  the  prevailing  rationalism  of  that  day  and  also 
to  keep  those  inclined  to  separation  within  the  church. 
It  was  at  first  mainly  devotional,  and  its  meetings  were 
held  on  Sunday  evenings,  and  proved  very  profitable. 
Spittler  belonged  to  it,  and  thus  described  it  in  1806: 
"It  is  now  five  years  since  I  was  first  made  a  probationer 
and  then  a  member.  Every  time  I  attended  my  heart 
was  greatly  blessed,  and  I  felt  very  powerfully  the  near- 
ness of  the  Lord.  How  often  was  I  comforted,  rebuked 
and  taught."  This  association  continued  until  about 
1820.  when  it  was  dissolved  by  the  death  of  its  founder. 
In  1825,  another  Young  Men's  Christian  Association,  of 
very  much  the  same  kind,  was  organized  at  Basle,  which 
22 


338  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

to-day  is  the  oldest  Young  Men's  Christian  Association 
in  the  world,  and  which,  in  1875,  celebrated  its  semi- 
centennial. Rev.  Frederick  Mallet,  one  of  the  most 
prominent  Reformed  ministers  in  Germany,  happened  to 
visit  Basle  in  1833,  and  came  into  contact  with  this  move- 
ment, and  he  formed  a  second  association  of  that  kind  in 
1834,  in  Bremen,  where  he  preached.  The  movement 
then  began  to  spread  in  Germany.  In  1836  an  association 
was  organized  at  Barmen  and,  in  1838,  at  Elberfeld, 
those  two  great  religious  centers  of  northwestern  Ger- 
many. So  that,  by  the  time  George  Williams  founded 
his  association  in  England,  there  were  already  at  least 
seven  Young  Men's  Christian  Associations  in  Germany 
and  Switzerland.  This  movement  continued  until,  when 
the  English  Young  Men's  Christian  Association  was  intro- 
duced into  Germany,  it  found  hundreds  of  associations 
there  and  the  two  were  often  merged.  Thus  a  great, 
world-wide  movement  grew  out  of  a  small  beginning. 
This  movement  came  naturally  out  of  the  Reformed 
Church  rather  than  the  Lutheran,  for  the  Reformed 
was  the  church  that,  from  the  Reformation,  aimed  to 
develop  the  lay  activity. 

The  second  organization  formed  at  Basle  was  the 
"Christianity  Society."  Rev.  John  August  Urlsperger, 
formerly  the  senior  minister  of  the  Lutheran  Church  at 
Augsburg,  and  the  leading  pietist  in  southern  Germany, 
led  to  its  foundation.  After  a  terrible  mental  struggle 
with  doubt,  he  had  come  to  abiding  faith  in  Christ. 
And  seeing  the  terrible  conflict  that  Christianity  had  to 
wage  in  that  day  against  unbelief,  he  formed  the  idea 
that  there  ought  to  be  a  union  of  all  orthodox  Chris- 
tians for  the  defence  of  the  old  faith.  It  seems  that  this 
suggestion  came  from  D'Annoni,  for  he  had  corresponded 
with  Urlsperger  about  it.  Urlsperger  soon  put  the  idea 
into  practice.  He  travelled  through  Germany  ( 1779)  try- 
ing to  form  such  a  union,  but,  to  his  disappointment,  he 


BASLE 


339 


found  little  sympathy  for  it.  He  then,  in  its  interest,  vis- 
ited Holland  and  England,  but  without  result.  He  finally 
came  to  Basle  as  his  last  resort  before  giving  up  the 
idea.  But  here  he  found  fertile  ground  and  a  warm 
welcome.  What  the  Lutherans  of  Germany  turned  the 
cold  shoulder  to,  even  when  championed  by  one  of  their 
own  prominent  men,  the  Reformed  of  Basle  were  glad 
to  take  up.  Meyenrock,  with  his  usual  aggressiveness, 
approved  of  it,  so  did  Burckhard,  pastor  at  St.  Peter's, 
and  also  Herzog,  professor  of  theology.  So  a  society 
was  organized  August  30,  1780,  called  "The  Society 
for  the  Promotion  of  Christian  Truth  and  True  Right- 
eousness." This  was  afterwards  shortened  to  the  name 
by  which  it  came  to  be  generally  known,  "The  Chris- 
tianity Society."  It  aimed  to  scatter  tracts,  to  take  care 
of  the  orphans,  to  aid  Protestant  congregations  in  Cath- 
olic lands,  and  to  spread  Evangelical  Christianity  in 
rationalistic  congregations  and  communities.  Thus  Switz- 
erland was  again  ahead  of  England,  whose  religious 
Literature  Society  was  not  founded  at  London  till  after 
the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century.  This  society 
had  at  first  about  100  members,  of  whom  eight  were 
ministers.  It  had  a  monthly  collection  which  was  used 
for  its  purposes.  Urlsperger  aimed  to  keep  it  free  from 
any  fanaticism  or  tendency  to  sectism  and  make  it  loyal 
to  the  church.  From  Basle  as  a  beginning,  Urlsperger 
was  able  to  form  societies  elsewhere,  as  in  Switzerland, 
at  Bern,  Zurich,  Schaffhausen,  St.  Gall,  Chur,  Winter- 
thur,  Aarau,  Zofingen  and  Wiedlesbach ;  and  in  Ger- 
many, at  Stuttgart,  Dresden,  Elberfeld,  Frankford,  Nu- 
remberg, and  many  other  places,  and  had  correspondence 
even  with  Sweden  and  America  about  it.  The  society 
was  a  unionistic  society,  having  both  Lutheran  and  Re- 
formed elements  in  it.  It  became  the  center  around 
which  the  Evangelical  elements  in  the  different  communi- 
ties   could    gather.      One    of    its    first    movements    at 


340 


THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 


Basle  was  the  establishment  of  a  prayer-meeting  (or 
Bible-hour  as  these  were  called  in  German),  led  at  first 
by  Professor  Huber,  and  later  by  Professor  Miville. 

This  society,  in  course  of  time,  happened  to  get  hold 
of  three  young  men  who  made  it  very  efficient.  The 
first  was  Frederick  Adolph  Steinkopf,  who  was  its  sec- 
retary (1795-1801).  He  was  a  native  of  neighboring 
Wurtemberg,  in  Germany,  and  by  his  activity  brought 
the  society  up  to  a  large  sphere  of  usefulness.  In  1801 
he  went  to  London  as  pastor  of  the  German  Church  of 
the  Savoy.  There  he  became  active  in  the  newly-or- 
ganized London  Missionary  Society  and  the  British  Bible 
Society.  He  became  the  connecting  link  between  Eng- 
land and  Basle  and  brought  Basle  into  contact  with  the 
forward  religious  movements  of  England.  In  1804, 
through  Steinkopf's  influence,  the  first  daughter  of  this 
Christianity  Society  came  into  existence,  the  Basle  Bible 
Society.  It  was  the  first  among  many  societies  that  grew 
out  of  this  "Christianity  Society."  The  Christianity  So- 
ciety of  Basle  was  in  correspondence  with  the  London 
Missionary  Society  which  had  just  been  organized. 

The  second  leader  of  the  Christianity  Society  was 
Christian  Frederick  Spittler.  He  had  been  called  as  an 
assistant  to  Steinkopf  as  secretary.  He  was  not  a  stu- 
dent for  the  ministry,  only  a  clerk  by  trade,  but  a  very 
earnest  Christian.  After  Steinkopf's  departure  he  re- 
mained as  assistant  secretary,  and  the  society  called 
Blumhardt,  a  theological  candidate  (1803-07),  as  secre- 
tary. After  Blumhardt  left,  as  ministerial  candidates 
were  scarce  and  Spittler  had  proved  so  very  efficient,  he 
was,  at  last,  elected  secretary  (1807),  which  position  he 
held  for  many  years.  These  three — Steinkopf,  Blum- 
hardt and  Spittler,  the  second  later  the  head  of  the  Basle 
Mission  House — were  the  three  who  were  the  early  leaders 
of  that  society. 

As    Spittler   was    foremost   in    Christian    activity    in 


BASLE 


341 


Basle  so  long,  we  will  pause  a  moment  on  his  life.  He 
was  born  in  1782,  in  Wurtemberg,  and  educated  for 
business.  He  was  called  to  Basle,  in  1801,  as  Stein- 
kopf's  assistant.  A  man  of  great  practical  tact  and  in- 
tense religious  zeal,  he  became  a  great  spiritual  force 
in  Basle  for  two-thirds  of  a  century.  The  number  of 
religious  and  charitable  institutions  to  whose  founding 
he  led  was  many,  as  the  Home  for  Neglected  Children, 
at  Beuggen ;  the  deaf  and  dumb  institute,  at  Riehen,  etc. 
But  the  most  important  of  these  was  the  Basle  Mission- 
ary Society,  of  which  we  shall  speak  presently.  He 
was  not  rich  or  learned,  but  was  spiritually  ambitious, 
always  thinking  up  some  new  plan  to  advance  God's  cause. 
Though  sometimes  set  in  his  ways,  yet  he  had  a  rare  gift 
of  religious  diplomacy,  which  made  his  efforts  generally 
successful.  He  was  especially  active  in  missions — 
founded  a  Jewish  Mission  Society,  1820,  and  had  a  Jewish 
school  in  his  own  house.  He  became  interested  in  the 
evangelization  of  Greece,  when  Greece  was  receiving 
much  attention  politically  from  Europe.  A  number  of 
Greeks  were  brought  from  slavery  and  educated  at 
Beuggen.  This  Greek  movement  brought  Spittler,  the 
leading  pietist  of  Basle,  into  close  relations  with 
Professor  De  Wette,  of  Basle,  the  leading  rationalist 
there,  and  whom  Spittler  had  vehemently  opposed  when 
he  was  called  to  Basle.  But  missions  brought  them  to- 
gether, for  De  Wette  was  active  in  missions,  having 
written  a  pamphlet  on  the  "Theological  Seminary  of  the 
Reformed  Church  in  America."  Spittler  died  December 
8,  1867. 

But  the  crown  of  these  religious  organizations  at 
Basle  was  the  Basle  Missionary  Society.  The  end  of 
the  eighteenth  and  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  centuries 
was  the  era  of  the  founding  of  modern  missionary  so- 
cieties, as  the  Netherlands,  Berlin,  and  now  the  Basle 
Society.     Spittler  was  the   force  that  led  to  its  origin. 


342 


THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 


Missions  had  always  been  a  favorite  subject  with  him, 
indeed,  he  first  had  an  idea  of  the  removal  of  Janicke's 
Mission  Institute  from  Berlin  to  Basle.     In  1805,  Spittler, 
who  would  gladly  have  gone  himself  as  a  missionary  to 
the  heathen,  conceived  the  idea :  why  not  a  mission-house 
at  Basle?    Spittler  wanted  the  mission-house  founded,  but 
Blumhardt  declared  it  was  impossible  to  do  so.     In  1810 
Rev.  Mr.  Von  Brunn  was  called  to  the  pastorate  of  the 
St.  Martin's  Church  at  Basle,  and  he  aided  the  interest 
in    missions.     When    the    Napoleonic    wars    broke    out 
Spittler  had  his  hands  full  of  other  things,  for  he  was 
kept  busy  distributing  Christian  tracts.     But  even  these 
wars  were  overruled  to  aid  missions,  as  we  shall  now  see. 
In  1814  Von  Brunn  began  the  missionary  lectures  that 
Blumhardt  had  dropped  when  he  left  in  1807.     At  the 
time  that  the  French  army  was  threatening  to  bombard 
Basle  from  Hunningen,  Von  Brunn  was  giving  a  mis- 
sionary lecture.     At  the  close  of  the  lecture  a  young 
man  came  forward  to  him  and  said  he  wanted  to  go  as 
a  missionary.     Von  Brunn  asked  Spittler,  "Can  we  not 
educate  such  men  for  missionary  work?"     This  question 
led  Spittler  to  plan  the  foundation  of  a  mission-house. 
Spittler  conferred  with  Blumhardt  and  with  Steinkopf, 
who  happened  at  that  time  to  visit  Basle.     So  this  society 
was  organized  September  25,  1815,  in  the  parsonage  of 
St.   Martin's   Church,  by   six  pious   men.     They  called 
Blumhardt  to  be  the  inspector  or  head  of  the  mission- 
house.     He  came  April    17,    1816,  and  the  school  was 
opened  August  26,  18 16,  with  seven  students,  of  whom 
four  were  from  Wurtemberg  and  two  were  Swiss.     The 
number  of  students  increased  until  larger  quarters  were 
necessary,   and,   in    1820,   a   mission-house   was   bought 
accommodating    forty.     Blumhardt    did   not   pretend   to 
be  a  great  scholar,  but  he  had  rich  knowledge  and  was 
an  excellent  administrator.     He  continued  inspector  un- 
til 1839,  and  with  great  ability  and  energy  built  up  the 


BASLE 


343 


mission-house  and  its  interests.  The  later  history  of  the 
Basle  Mission  Society  will  be  given  in  the  next  book  of 
this  volume. 


CHAPTER  III 
Schaffhausen 

Section  i 

its  early  pietism 

Pietism  appeared  at  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  in  this  canton.  The  Hurters  were  a  prominent 
ministerial  family  in  the  canton,  and  one  of  them,  John 
George  Hurter,  who  was  pastor  at  Auf  der  Steig  in  1708, 
started  (1711)  an  orphanage,  following  the  example  of 
Francke,  the  Lutheran  pietist  of  Halle,  Germany.  He 
also  began  holding  prayer-meetings  in  this  school-house. 
Other  candidates  for  the  ministry  joined  themselves  to 
him.  It  happened  that  Gruber,  the  separatist,  visited 
them  and  this  roused  opposition.  And,  on  March  2,  1717, 
six  ministers  and  candidates  for  the  ministry  were  sus- 
pended from  the  ministry  for  pietism,  among  them 
Hurter.  After  four  weeks'  suspension,  as  they  refused 
to  obey  the  orders  of  the  canton  against  prayer-meetings, 
they  were  deposed  from  the  ministry.  Hurter  went  back 
into  his  orphanage  and  lived  there  until  his  death  in 
1721.  But  the  deposition,  instead  of  stopping  the  prog- 
ress of  pietism,  only  scattered  it  everywhere  throughout 
the  canton.  It  led,  too,  to  the  formation  of  a  pietistic 
congregation,  to  which  these  deposed  candidates  joined 
themselves.  The  most  prominent  of  them  was  the  young- 
est of  them,  John  Conrad  Ziegler.  When  he  first  went 
to  these  prayer-meetings,  his  mother  was  so  opposed  to 
them  that  she  locked  up  his  clothes  so  he  could  not  go. 
But,  by  a  back  way,  he  hurried  there  in  his  night-clothing. 

344 


SCHAFFHAUSEN  345 

After  his  deposition  he  continued  as  a  private  teacher 
and  also  aided  in  leading  many  anxious  souls  to  Christ, 
as  D'Annoni.  In  1721  the  deposed  ministers  and  candi- 
dates published  a  defence  entitled,  "Witness  of  the  Truth 
at  Schaffhausen." 

Pietism,  though  seemingly  crushed  for  the  moment, 
yet  recovered  later.  For  the  human  heart  is  never  en- 
tirely satisfied  with  the  cold  formalities  of  religion.  John 
William  Meyer,  born  1690,  lived  early  enough  to  come 
into  contact  with  the  meetings  of  which  we  have  just 
spoken.  But  he  happened  to  be  a  country  pastor  at  the 
time  and  so  attracted  less  attention  than  the  pietists  in 
the  city  of  Schaffhausen,  who  were  deposed.  In  1739 
he  was  called  to  the  city  of  Schaffhausen  as  evening- 
preacher.  He  then  began  holding  devotional  meetings. 
Zinzendorf  visited  him  in  1740.  This  roused  suspicion 
and  opposition.  Meyer  was  called  before  the  school 
council  and  compelled  to  give  up  the  prayer-meetings. 
This  he  did  under  protest,  claiming  that  they  were  fully 
Reformed,  and  quoting  for  them  the  text,  "Where  two  or 
three  are  met,"  etc.  In  1749  he  became  pastor  of  the 
cathedral.  The  celebrated  historian  of  Switzerland,  John 
Muller,  who  heard  him  preach  when  seventeen  years  old, 
declared  that,  after  hearing  his  sermon,  he  could  always 
be  more  pious  from  Sunday  to  Wednesday  than  during 
the  latter  part  of  the  week.  As  late  as  1794  Muller  wrote 
to  his  brother  that  the  memory  of  Meyer  was  so  fresh 
and  living  in  his  heart,  that  when  he  thought  of  what  a 
bishop  of  the  early  Christian  Church  must  be,  he  al- 
ways pictured  him  as  like  Meyer.  Meyer  was  elected 
antistes  (1756),  and  wrote  a  number  of  hymns,  especially 
fifty-two  catechetical  hymns  arranged  according  to  the 
topics  of  the  Sundays  of  the  Heidelberg  Catechism.  He 
died  1767.  Thus  pietism,  at  first  cast  out  by  the  church, 
soon  gained  the  head  of  the  church  in  the  antistes. 

Meyer  was  later  followed  by  another  antistes  who 


346  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

was  more  noted  for  his  pietism,  John  Henry  Oschwald, 
who  lived  1721-1803.  He  studied  at  Schaffhausen  and 
then  went  to  Leyden  to  study.  On  his  return  he  stayed 
at  Elberfeld  in  northwestern  Germany  (the  home  of  the 
pietism  of  the  Reformed  Church  of  Germany)  for  ten 
years.  He  returned  to  Schaffhausen  in  1757.  In  1767 
he  was  elected  antistes.  He  was  a  strong  opponent  of 
rationalism  and  an  undaunted  defender  of  pietism,  hop- 
ing by  it  to  get  back  the  separatists  into  the  church.  In 
1779  he  published  his  most  important  work,  "Directions 
for  a  Wholesome  Understanding  of  the  Bible."  In  it 
he  reveals  peculiar  views,  some  of  them  savoring  of 
Moravianism,  but  rather  of  Spangenberg  than  of  Zin- 
zendorf.  Thus  he  attacked  the  Apostles'  Creed  because 
it  referred  the  creation  to  God  the  Father  and  did  not 
bring  it  into  connection  with  Christ.  (The  Moravian 
view  was  that  everything  was  done  through  Christ).  He 
also  charged  that  the  creed  separated  too  much  the  three 
persons  of  the  trinity.  For  his  statements  he  was 
charged  with  a  departure  from  Calvinistic  orthodoxy  by 
the  ministers,  especially  because  he  was  not  a  Calvinist 
(in  this,  following  Zinzendorf).  In  1773  he  called  a 
meeting  of  the  ministers,  to  whom  he  made  a  full  state- 
ment of  his  theological  views.  He  succeeded  in  quiet- 
ing the  opposition,  but  his  relations  to  the  ministers  were 
for  a  long  time  strained.  He  died  1803,  after  being 
antistes  and  dekan  thirty-five  years. 

Then  came  the  two  brothers  Muller,  John,  the  great 
historian  of  Switzerland  (1752-1809),  of  whom  this  is 
not  the  place  to  write  (as  he  was  a  historian,  not  a  theo- 
logian), except  to  say  that  amid  all  the  temptations  of 
Catholicism,  he  remained  true  to  his  Reformed  faith. 
His  last  words  were:  "Whatever  is,  is  of  God,  and  all 
comes  from  God."  He  highly  reverenced  the  Bible 
as  the  palladium  of  liberty.  His  brother,  John  George 
Muller    (1759-1819),    became    a    leading    preacher    of 


SCHAFFHAUSEN 


347 


Schaffhausen.  He  was  one  of  the  few  men  who,  with 
Lavater  and  Hess,  combated  the  rationalism  of  that 
day.  He  was  the  Swiss  Herder,  having  lived  with 
Herder  for  six  months  in  his  house.  He  was  led  by  his 
mother's  influence  and  the  reading  of  Young's  "Night 
Thoughts"  and  Lavater's  "Views  Into  Eternity,"  to  study 
for  the  ministry.  He  studied  at  Schaffhausen,  also  at 
Zurich  (where  he  greatly  admired  Lavater),  then  at 
Tubingen  and  Gottingen.  It  was  because  of  the  doubts 
raised  at  the  latter  place  that  he  went  to  Weimar  and, 
like  Paul  at  the  feet  of  Gamaliel,  he  sat  at  the  feet  of 
Herder.  He  was  greatly  helped  and  influenced  by  his 
teacher  and  became  his  follower,  though  it  was  the  early 
Herder  he  followed  and  not  the  later,  after  Herder  had 
come  under  the  influence  of  Spinoza,  which  weakened 
his  testimony  for  Christianity.  Muller  endeavored  to 
mediate  between  Herder  and  orthodoxy.  He  exerted  a 
strong  conservative  influence  in  the  canton  and  published 
a  number  of  apologetical  works. 

Section  2 

its  later  pietism 

Somewhat  later  than  Muller,  there  appeared  two  men 
who  became  prominent  in  the  religious  history  of  Schaff- 
hausen. During  their  life  and  that  of  Muller  occurred 
the  visit  of  Madame  Krudener,  the  female  evangelist 
of  Europe  in  the  early  part  of  the  nineteenth  century, 
which  created  so  much  excitement  in  the  canton.  The 
first  of  these  was  John  Conrad  Maurer,  who  lived  1771- 
1841.  He  was  born  at  Schaffhausen,  studied  there  and 
later  became  professor  of  rhetoric.  The  other  was  David 
Spliess.  He  was  born  1786  and  educated  at  Schaff- 
hausen. He  passed  through  two  great  crises  in  his  life. 
The  first  was  about  entering  the  ministry.  He  had  de- 
cided to  become  a  merchant  and  had  entered  business. 


348  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

But  he  was  not  satisfied  and  spent  much  time  in  prayer 
to  God  about  it.  In  his  anxiety  he  wrote  out  a  prayer 
which  he  put  into  his  pocket.  Unknown  to  him  it  fell 
out  into  the  street,  where  it  was  picked  up  by  a  friend, 
who  gave  it  to  J.  G.  Muller,  of  whom  we  have  spoken 
above.  The  latter,  learning  from  it  his  desire  for  the 
ministry,  went  to  his  parents  and  his  employer  and 
gained  their  permission  for  him  to  continue  his  studies 
so  that  he  might  enter  the  ministry.  After  studying  at 
Schaffhausen  he  went  to  Tubingen.  Schleiermacher's 
"Addresses"  came  to  him  as  a  drink  of  water  to  a  thirsty 
soul.  He  then  went  to  Heidelberg,  where  he  came  un- 
der the  influence  of  Schelling's  philosophy  and  thought 
he  had  found  the  truth  in  it.  But  when  he  revealed  it 
to  J.  G.  Muller,  the  latter  warned  him  against  its  errors, 
and  then  all  his  old  questions  came  up  again.  He  felt 
that  he  was  not  spiritually  prepared  to  enter  the  min- 
istry, so  he  accepted  for  a  time  a  private  tutorship  in 
a  Dutch  family  near  Breda.  And  here  it  was  that  he 
met  his  second  crisis — his  conversion.  There  he  met 
Rev.  Mr.  Krafft,  later  professor  at  Erlangen,  one  of  the 
most  spiritual  men  of  his  day  and  who,  at  Erlangen, 
though  Reformed,  led  to  a  revival  in  the  Lutheran 
Church  of  Bavaria.*  Spliess  happened  to  meet  him 
August  18,  1811,  at  the  house  of  the  minister  of  Goch. 
Krafft  soon  got  into  close  conversation  with  him  and  to- 
gether they  went  to  Cleve,  two  hours  distant.  Spliess 
opened  to  Krafft  the  struggles  of  his  heart  for  light. 
Krafft  pointed  him  to  the  love  of  God.  The  next  morn- 
ing Spliess  felt  himself  a  new  man,  for  the  joy  of  con- 
version had  come  to  him.  Another  conversation  with 
Krafft  completed  the  matter.  Krafft's  spirituality  and 
peace  of  soul  were,  ever  after,  his  great  ideal.  He  was 
elected  professor  at  Schaffhausen,   1812,  and  pastor  at 

*  For    Krafft's    life    see    my    "History    of    the    Reformed 
Church  of  Germany,"  pages  526-29. 


SCHAFFHAUSEN  349 

Buch,  northeast  of  Schaffhausen,  1813. 

It  was  while  he  was  pastor  at  Buch  that  Madame 
Krudener  appeared  in  1817.     Madame  Krudener  was  the 
female  evangelist  of  Europe  in  the  early  part  of  the 
nineteenth  century.     She  was  a  Russian  princess,  born 
at  Riga,  1764.     She  had  lived  a  life  of  worldliness  and 
luxury,  had  been  married  at  eighteen  to  a  Russian  baron 
named  Krudener,  who  later  died.     But  she  did  not  live 
with  him,  but  left  him  and  traveled  everywhere,  seeking 
luxury  and  fashion,  until  suddenly  she  was  converted  in 
1807,  and  gave  all  this  up.     After  such  an  adventurous 
life,  she  brought  to  the  service  of  God  the  same  fever- 
ish activity  and  excitability  that  had  distinguished  her 
before  in  society.     She  went  from  place  to  place  preach- 
ing, sometimes  from  morning  till  night.     She  travelled 
to  Paris,  to  Baden,  to  Russia,  and  to  Switzerland.     Her 
most  remarkable  act  was  her  great  influence  over  the 
Russian   Czar,  Alexander,  which  led  to  his  conversion 
to  Christ.     This  event  exerted  a  great  political  influence 
on  Europe  early  in  the  nineteenth  century,  for  it  so  freed 
him   from  the  trammels  of  the  Greek  Church  that  he 
proposed  the  Holy  Alliance  with  the  Emperor  of  Austria 
and  the  King  of  Prussia,  which   changed  the  political 
face  of  Europe.     Her  religious   zeal  became   fanatical. 
Stilling  introduced  her  to  mysticism  and  the  prophetess 
Kummerin   opened   to   her  the  world  of   visions.     She 
was,  therefore,  given  to  certain  eccentricities  which  pro- 
duced prejudice,  as  the  seeing  of  visions  and  wonder- 
working.    One  of  her  peculiarities,  very  objectionable  to 
Protestants,    was    the    fact    that    she    kneeled    before   a 
crucifix,  and  even  went  so  far  as  to  call  on  the  virgin. 
These  were  doubtless  relics  of  her  former  Greek  faith. 
She  was  friendly  to  Catholics  and  often  read  the  Catholic 
mystic,   Madame  Guyon.     But  Evangelical  views   were 
most    prevalent    with    her.     She    believed    in    personal 
experience.     The  rest  of  the  soul  in  God,  whose  source 


350  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

was  the  blood  of  Christ,  was  her  chief  doctrine.  She 
always  preached  repentance.  For  these  reasons  she  was 
looked  upon  with  suspicion  everywhere,  especially  by 
the  worldly  and  the  rationalists,  and  even  by  the  clergy 
given  to  dead  orthodoxy.  As  she  was  very  liberal  with 
her  means,  the  poor  and  the  suffering  would  crowd 
around  her.  Besides,  the  fact  that  a  woman  should 
preach  was  a  great  cause  of  offence  in  that  day.  For 
had  not  Paul  commanded  that  women  should  keep 
silence  in  meeting?  She  died  December  13,  1824,  after 
a  checkered  life.  In  spite  of  her  eccentricities,  there  is 
no  doubt  that  she  did  a  great  deal  of  good  and  was  a 
means  ordained  of  God  to  awaken  Europe. 

She  appeared  181 7,  accompanied  by  Empeytaz,  and 
located  at  Lottstetten,  two  hours  from  Schaffhausen,  in 
Baden.     She  was  not  permitted  to  come  to  Schaffhausen, 
the  excuse  being  that,  by  her  charities,  she  gathered  so 
many  beggars  around  her.     But  really  it  was  because  of 
her  pietism.     Everywhere  in  the  street  and  in  the  hotels 
she  spoke  of  Christ  crucified  as  the  ground  of  hope.     For, 
because  of  the  rationalistic  preaching,  the  cross  had  faded 
out  of  people's  minds.     Soon  those  who  loved  the  cross 
gathered    around    her.     The    pulpits    thundered    against 
her,  but  that  did  not  keep  the  people  from  coming  to  her 
meetings.     Muller,  Maurer  and  Spliess  visited  her  and 
attended  some  of  her  meetings.     It  was  Spliess'  congre- 
gation that  began  to  be  affected  by  them.     Although  he 
had  not  gained  much  by  his  visit  to  her,  yet  she  seems  to 
have  given  an  impulse  to  him  which  affected  his  preach- 
ing and  his  catechization.     It  happened  that,  at  the  be- 
ginning of  1817,  there  was  an  earthquake  in  Switzerland, 
and  Spliess  preached  on  it.     Soon  after  an  earnest  ser- 
mon by  him,  the  men,  both  the  convicted  and  the  con- 
verted, gathered  together  at  a  house  and  thanked  him 
for  the  peace  he  had  brought  them.     So  he  held  prayer- 
meetings.     His   children,   at   catechization,   also   became 


SCHAFFHAUSEN  351 

deeply  affected.  They  received  an  overpowering  sense 
of  their  sin  and  unworthiness,  and  then  a  saving  security 
in  God.  Some  of  the  children  declared  that  they  had 
visions  and  saw  Jesus.  This  revival  began  in  April,  181 7. 
A  blessed  influence  pervaded  the  whole  community. 
Quarrels  ceased  and  profanity  stopped.  Certain  extrava- 
gances appeared,  but  he  neither  supported  them  nor  laid 
much  value  on  them,  hoping  that  out  of  it  all  good  would 
come.  A  young  girl,  seized  by  grace,  fell  to  the  ground 
and  struck  her  head  in  falling,  so  that  it  bled.  Her 
father  tried  to  help  her  up,  but  she  refused,  and  finally 
arose  rejoicing  in  hope.  These  excitements  attracted 
many  strangers  to  Buch  to  see  and  also  to  criticise.  A 
ridiculer  of  religion  heard  the  voice  of  God  by  night : 
"Saul,  why  persecutest  thou  me?"  and  was  converted. 
By  Spliess'  wise  guidance  these  excesses  were  checked, 
and  a  quiet  peace  filled  the  community.  His  sermons  were 
full  of  spirit  and  fire.  As  the  Reformation  festival  ap- 
proached, Spliess  declared  that  the  church  needed  a  new 
reformation,  as  it  did,  and  his  remark  produced  a  great 
impression. 

This  revival  spread  to  the  neighboring  congregation 
of  Beggingen,  in  December,  whose  pastor,  Vetter,  re- 
joiced in  it.  His  members  asked  for  Sunday  evening 
prayer-meetings.  There  were  also  tremblings  and  con- 
vulsions at  Beggingen.  The  pastor  expounded  Romans 
at  the  evening  prayer-meetings.  Maurer  took  part  in 
them  and  preached  at  Schleitheim  on  Sunday,  for  the 
movement  spread  to  some  other  congregations. 

Of  course,  rationalism  attacked  such  meetings,  and 
rationalism  then  had  control  of  Schaffhausen.  Com- 
plaints were  made  before  the  antistes  against  Spliess. 
The  antistes  Kirchhofer,  at  a  convent  of  ministers,  April 
17,  1819,  attacked  Spliess.  They  appealed  to  the  civil 
authorities,  who  appointed  a  commission  to  look  into  the 
matter.     Spliess    made    a    defence    before    them.     But 


352 


THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 


through  J.  G.  Muller,  who  had  not  at  first  been  pleased 
with  Spliess'  strong  manner  and  somewhat  theosophic 
expressions,  a  compromise  was  brought  about.  He  op- 
posed the  use  of  any  force  against  the  movement,  and  so 
Spliess  was  not  disciplined.  And  the  canton  quieted 
down. 

This  pietistic  movement,  though  it  led  to  some  ex- 
cesses, yet  left  a  very  blessed  influence  behind  it.  It 
produced  a  number  of  awakened  persons  in  the  different 
congregations.  It  became  so  influential  in  its  results, 
that  it  led  the  orthodox  ministers  to  gain  the  majority 
in  the  canton,  so  that  finally  the  influence  of  rationalism 
ceased.  Up  to  the  revival,  Spliess  had  cared  nothing 
about  missions,  but  now  he  became  deeply  interested  in 
them,  indeed,  the  main  supporter  in  his  canton  of  the 
Basle  Mission-house,  where  he  was  always  gladly  heard 
by  the  students.  And  one  of  the  converts  of  the  revival, 
Lang,  went  as  a  missionary  to  the  Caucasus.  Later,  as 
we  shall  see  in  our  next  part,  Spliess  became  antistes, 
1841.  He  died  1854,  having  exerted  a  great  influence  for 
Evangelical  religion  in  his  canton.  As  a  result  of  these 
pietistic  movements,  Schaffhausen  is  to-day  the  great 
Evangelical  canton  of  German  Switzerland. 


PART  II 

FRENCH  SWITZERLAND 

CHAPTER  I 

Geneva 

The  revival  at  Geneva,  in  the  early  part  of  the  nine- 
teenth century,  was  one  of  the  most  remarkable  signs  of 
God's  power  in  Europe  during  that  century. 


Section  i 

the  preparation  for  the  REVIVAL 

The  Church  of  Geneva  had,  as  we  have  seen,  become 
rationalistic  in  the  eighteenth  century.  Calvinism  had 
degenerated  into  Socinianism.  The  only  part  of  Cal- 
vinism that  remained  was  the  church-government,  and 
that  had  been  so  modified  that  the  consistory  had  become 
a  self-elected  aristocracy.  The  pastors  generally 
preached  a  mutilated  Christianity,  "which  recognized 
Jesus,  not  as  the  unique  son  of  God,  but  as  a  messenger 
of  God,  about  whom  one  is  embarrassed  to  know  his  true 
nature."  The  French  Revolution  came  with  its  baneful 
influence  on  society  and  the  church.  French  levity  took 
away  all  respect  for  the  consistory  and  the  church,  and 
the  church  fell  more  through  it  than  it  had  through  Vol- 
taire with  all  his  boasts  against  it.  In  1806  the  sub- 
scription of  the  ministers  was  changed  to  the  Old  and 
New  Testaments  and  the  Apostles'  Creed.  Guers  said 
23  353 


354  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

that  the  religion  of  many  of  the  Venerable  Company 
was  not  religion.  The  church  was  imbued  with  the  ideas 
of  Rosseau.  In  general,  it  did  not  have  much  more  idea 
of  faith  than  that  of  the  Vicar  of  Savoy. 

And  yet,  underneath  all  this  rationalism,  there  were 
influences  at  work  preparing  for  a  revival.  Indeed,  ra- 
tionalism itself  is  often  a  preparation  for  revival,  for 
men's  hearts  grow  so  weary  of  its  insipidity  and  empti- 
ness that  even  rationalism  is  apt  to  produce  a  reaction 
to  better  things.  Even  in  that  dark  time  God  left  him- 
self not  without  a  witness.  One  of  the  elements  in  the 
preparation  was  the  existence  at  Geneva  of  a  Moravian 
congregation.  Zinzendorf  had  visited  Geneva  in  1741, 
and  had  founded  there  a  Reformed  trope  or  circle  of 
the  Moravians.  Its  members  were  members  of  the  Re- 
formed Church,  but  followed  the  method  of  the  Mo- 
ravians, and  kept  up  correspondence  with  them.  They 
kept  on  meeting  and  praying,  and  especially  in  1810  was 
there  much  prayer.  The  influence  of  this  congregation 
was,  as  we  shall  see,  one  of  the  direct  causes  for  the 
revival. 

Another  cause  for  it  was  a  small  group  of  Evan- 
gelical pastors  in  the  National  Church  of  Geneva.  Al- 
though most  of  the  pastors  were  rationalistic,  yet  there 
were  three  who  were  Evangelical,  Cellerier,  Moulinie  and 
Peschier.  Cellerier  (1755-1844)  was  pastor  of  a  country 
charge  near  Geneva  named  Satigny.  But,  though  only 
a  country  pastor,  he  had  gained  great  influence  by  his 
great  Bible  knowledge  and  fine  pulpit  ability.  The 
Genevese  often  came  out  in  crowds  to  attend  his  church, 
and  whenever  he  preached  in  Geneva  he  made  a  deep  im- 
pression. His  sermons  were  so  full  of  gospel  truth  and 
of  unction  that  when  published,  they  caused  the  Socinian 
book  of  sermons,  then  in  common  use  among  the  people, 
to  be  set  aside.  The  people  had  found  in  them  something 
better  than  husks.     Cellerier  was  a  broad-spirited  Chris- 


GENEVA 


355 


tian.  Guers  tells  that  when  he  began  frequenting  the 
Moravian  services,  his  father  became  very  anxious,  and 
went  to  Cellerier  for  advice.  Cellerier  gave  the  reply, 
unusual  then,  that  the  Moravians  were  excellent  Chris- 
tians and  would  exert  an  excellent  influence  on  the  young 
man.  Gaussen,  his  successor  at  Satigny,  called  Cellerier 
"a  Father  among  the  Fathers  of  the  Reformed  Church 
who  was  destined  to  be  the  link  between  the  worst  and 
the  happiest  days  of  Geneva." 

Moulinie  was  the  second  Evangelical  pastor.  These 
witnesses  for  the  truth  complimented  each  other.  If 
Cellerier  was  the  powerful  orator,  Moulinie  was  the 
profound  theologian.  He  was  one  of  the  pastors  in  the 
city  of  Geneva  and,  therefore,  could  exert  more  influence 
than  Cellerier,  who  was  a  country  pastor.  But  he  was 
more  theological  in  his  tendency.  He  was  better  fitted 
for  a  chair  of  theology,  from  which  the  rationalists,  how- 
ever, were  careful  to  keep  him.  And  his  preaching, 
though  more  theological  than  Cellerier's,  was  not  so  popu- 
lar. So  he  really  exerted  less  influence  than  Cellerier. 
But,  in  one  way,  he  did  a  greater  work.  He  gathered  to 
his  house  some  of  the  young  theological  students  to 
study  theology  with  them.  As  the  theological  seminary 
was  virtually  Socinian,  Moulinie  thus  filled  a  real  gap  in 
its  degenerate  theological  teaching. 

A  third  witness  for  the  Evangelical  gospel  was 
Peschier,  pastor  at  Cologny,  a  man  of  great  versatility 
and  learning,  especially  in  mathematics  and  astronomy,  a 
veritable  encyclopaedia  of  all  the  sciences.  But  his  in- 
fluence for  Evangelical  religion  was  lessened  because  he 
did  not  come  out  as  a  clear  witness  for  it  till  in  the  last 
years  of  his  life. 

Duby  might  also  be  mentioned,  though  he  occupied 
rather  a  mediating  position  between  the  orthodox  and  the 
rationalists.  But  he  had  been  in  America  and  brought 
back  with  him  some  of  the  aggressive  spirit  of  the  new 


356  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

world.  Thus,  under  his  leadership,  a  Bible  society  was 
organized  in  1814.  He  was  an  especially  fine  catechist. 
The  solemn  impression  he  made  on  the  young  in  prepar- 
ing them  for  confirmation,  prepared  some  of  them  later 
to  accept  the  full  gospel.  He  also  gave  some  homiletic 
courses  in  the  university,  and  was  the  first  in  Geneva  to 
give  homiletics  a  scientific  character.  In  general,  it 
might  be  said  that  the  country  pastors  were  more  inclined 
to  Evangelical  piety  than  the  city  pastors,  who  tried 
hard  to  keep  all  Evangelical  influences  outside  of  the 
city,  Moulinie  being  the  only  Evangelical  in  the  city. 

These  pastors,  with  the  Moravians,  were  the  early 
witnesses  for  the  truth  in  Geneva.  Strange  to  say,  this 
movement  to  orthodoxy  was  helped  along  by  a  lodge  of 
Free  Masons,  who  held  a  doctrine  of  the  trinity,  and 
their  ideas  were  colored  by  an  extreme  form  of  mysti- 
cism. Some  of  them  had  read  pietistic  books,  as  of 
Bohme,  Stilling  and  Madame  Guyon.  Two  or  three  of 
the  Genevan  ministers,  as  Moulinie,  belonged  to  this 
lodge. 

In  1810  there  came  a  movement  among  the  students 
toward  orthodoxy.  The  theological  lectures  they  heard 
were  cold  and  dry.  Bost  says,  "We  learned  nothing 
beyond  the  doctrines  of  natural  religion."  The  New 
Testament  was  not  considered  as  a  text-book  for  the 
ministry.  The  Church  of  Geneva,  while  admitting  with 
Rosseau  the  majesty  of  the  Bible,  did  not  take  it  as 
its  rule  of  life  and  faith.  But  a  few  of  the  students 
longed  for  better  things.  Some  of  them  had  come  into 
contact  with  the  Moravians.  This  produced  in  them  a 
desire  for  a  deeper  spirituality  than  was  given  by  the 
lectures  of  their  professors.  These  students,  in  1810, 
organized  themselves  into  a  society  called  the  "Society 
of  the  Friends."  Among  them  were  two  theological 
students,  Empeytaz  and  Guers.  Their  leader  was  a  Mo- 
ravian, Ami  Bost,  the  leader  of  the  singing  in  the  St. 


GENEVA  357 

Gervais  Church.  His  son,  also  a  student,  had  been  partly 
reared  at  Neuwied,  the  Moravian  colony  on  the  Rhine, 
sent  there  to  be  gotten  away  from  the  rationalism  in 
Geneva.  There  he  had  come  under  the  earnest  spirit  of 
the  Moravians. 

Of  these  students  the  most  ardent  was  Empeytaz. 
He  had  had  a  fine  education  in  his  boyhood.  But,  since 
he  was  fourteen  years  of  age,  he  came  under  deep  con- 
viction without  being  able  to  find  peace.  He  was  so 
driven  by  his  soul's  anxieties  for  salvation  that  he 
would  sometimes  attend  the  services  of  the  Catholics,  for 
he  was  starved  in  listening  to  the  preaching  of  the  Protest- 
ant Church.  It  was  at  a  Moravian  meeting  that  Meril- 
lat,  a  visiting  Moravian,  led  him  to  Christ.  "The  mem- 
bers of  this  Society  of  the  Friends,"  says  Guers,  "knew 
the  way  of  salvation  very  imperfectly."  And  yet  their 
first  annual  report,  drawn  up  by  Empeytaz,  revealed  a 
much  higher  elevation  than  the  mists  of  Socinianism 
around  them.  The  meetings  of  this  society  were  kept  up 
quietly  until,  in  1813,  two  events  occurred  which  tended 
to  bring  on  a  crisis. 

The  first  was  the  organization  of  a  Sunday  School 
by  Guers  and  Empeytaz.  Sunday  Schools  were  new  in 
those  days,  and  unknown  in  rationalism.  So  it  was 
looked  upon  as  a  very  radical  step  and  it  produced  a 
division  in  the  society.  Some  withdrew  because  they 
thought  the  society  was  becoming  too  Moravian.  It 
was  watched  very  critically  by  the  Venerable  Company. 

The  other  event  was  the  visit  of  Madame  Krudener, 
who  arrived  at  Geneva,  July,  1813,  drawn  hither  by  a 
so-called  prophecy  of  Madame  Guyon,  which  led  her  to 
expect  great  results  from  her  visit.  Of  course,  she  was 
a  rock  of  offence  to  rationalistic  and  worldly  Geneva. 
She  came  into  contact  with  the  Moravians.  Bost  and 
Empeytaz  came  under  her  influence.  Empeytaz,  in  spite 
of  the  opposition  to  her  on  the  part  of  the  Venerable 


358  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

Company,  had  her  hold  a  meeting  in  his  house.  After 
remaining  two  months  at  Geneva  she  left. 

These  two  events,  the  opening  of  a  Sunday  School 
and  the  visit  of  Madame  Krudener,  seem  to  have 
brought  matters  to  a  crisis.  Notwithstanding  the  fact 
that  the  society  of  the  Friends  tried  to  keep  clear  of 
anything  that  would  take  the  appearance  of  a  sect,  the 
Venerable  Company  more  and  more  opposed  them.  The 
Venerable  Company  also  looked  with  considerable  sus- 
picion on  Moulinie's  Biblical  lectures  to  the  students, 
because  they  saw  in  it  a  movement  against  the  theology 
taught  in  the  university.  Bost  tried  to  offset  their  oppo- 
sition to  the  meetings  of  the  Friends  by  inviting  them 
to  the  meetings,  so  as  to  see  if  any  tendency  to  sectism 
was  prominent  in  them.  Some  of  the  pastors  came  and 
were  scandalized  at  the  orthodox  doctrines  they  heard 
there,  such  as  total  depravity,  the  divinity  of  Christ,  free 
grace  and  justification  by  faith.  In  the  fall  of  1813, 
the  Venerable  Company  warned  all  young  men  against 
them  as  a  rising  sect.  On  October  29,  Empeytaz  was 
invited  to  appear  before  the  Venerable  Company.  When 
they  asked  him  his  doctrine,  he  wisely  answered  in  the 
words  of  the  Bible.  Moulinie  and  Demellayer  tried  to 
protect  him  before  the  Company,  but  the  Company  de- 
cided against  him  and  gave  him  fourteen  days  to  decide 
whether  he  would  renounce  the  Moravians  or  his  theo- 
logical studies.  He  passed  through  great  struggles,  but 
at  last,  for  the  sake  of  peace,  he  obeyed  them  and  con- 
tinued his  studies. 

In  November,  181 3,  the  literary  students  of  the  uni- 
versity, inspired  by  zeal  for  the  Venerable  Company,  broke 
into  a  meeting  of  the  Brethren  or  Friends  so  riotously  that 
the  military  were  called  out,  who  arrested  the  ringleaders 
and  dispersed  the  rest.  As  a  result  of  these  events,  some 
of  the  Brethren  went  back  to  the  church.  Others,  the 
more  spiritually-minded,  joined  more  closely  to  the  Mo- 


GENEVA  359 

ravians.  The  feeling  was  so  bitter  that  even  Moulinie 
advised  Empeytaz  not  to  attend  the  meetings.  Bost  and 
Gaussen  were  ordained  March,  1814,  but  did  not  at  first 
receive  charges.  Empeytaz,  after  holding  back  for  a 
time,  began  again  holding  meetings  in  his  house.  So  the 
Venerable  Company  declared,  June  3,  1814,  that  for  this 
disobedience  he  would  not  be  allowed  to  enter  the  min- 
istry. He  then  went  away,  August  13,  1814,  and  joined 
Madame  Krudener.  Empeytaz  travelled  with  her  for 
about  two  years,  assisting  at  her  meetings.  During  this 
time  he  made  a  number  of  tours  with  her  in  South  Ger- 
many, Switzerland  and  Paris.  Finally,  on  account  of 
her  increasing  fanaticism,  he  left  her.  'After  his  de- 
parture the  meetings  of  the  Brethren  fell  into  poor  hands, 
and  degenerated,  and  then  stopped  in  1814. 

But,  though  rationalism  seemed  to  have  crushed  out 
all  Evangelical  movements  and  driven  away  the  leader, 
Empeytaz,  yet  the  darkest  hour  is  just  before  the  dawn. 
Empeytaz  suddenly  threw  a  bombshell  into  the  camp 
of  the  rationalistic  Church  of  Geneva.  On  August  6, 
1816,  he  published  a  book,  "Considerations  about  the 
Divinity  of  Christ."  In  it  he  discussed  the  question, 
"Is  the  report  true  that  the  Venerable  Company  of 
Geneva  no  longer  believes  in  the  divinity  of  Jesus 
Christ?"  He  declared  that  the  sermons  of  only  two 
ministers  in  Geneva,  Moulinie  and  Dejoux,  reveal  the 
divinity  of  Christ;  that,  in  195  sermons  preached  there 
since  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century,  there  was  no 
profession  of  faith  in  Christ's  divinity.  He  also  attacked 
the  French  Bible,  published  at  Geneva,  in  1805,  for  its 
rationalism.  He  urged  the  return  of  the  Church  of 
Geneva  to  its  earlier  Calvinism,  as  the  only  hope  of  sal- 
vation for  the  future.  The  book  created  a  tremendous 
sensation,  and  was  translated  into  a  number  of  languages. 
He  had  dedicated  it  to  the  theological  students  of  the 
university  as  his  colleagues.     It  compelled  the  Venerable 


360  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

Company  to  come  out  from  its  policy  of  silence  for  the 
sake  of  peace,  and  take  a  stand  for  or  against  Christ's 
divinity,  just  as  D'Alembert  had  done  in  Voltaire's  time, 
about  a  half  century  before.  The  book  compromised  the 
Genevans  in  the  eyes  of  the  world,  and  they  were  very  sen- 
sitive about  the  reputation  of  their  city.  The  citizens 
were  angered  at  these  repeated  attacks  on  their  pastors 
whom  they  honored,  and  on  the  reputation  of  their 
church,  for  Genevan  patriotism  ran  deep. 

But  it  was  especially  the  theological  students  of  the 
university  who  were  roused  to  a  tumult  by  it.  They 
held  a  meeting  in  the  great  hall  of  the  consistory  with 
Merle  D'Aubigne  as  presiding  officer.  In  a  letter  to  the 
Venerable  Company  they  protested  against  "the  odious 
aggression  of  the  calumnious  book."  They  pledged  their 
confidence  in  their  professors  and  in  the  Venerable  Com- 
pany. When  the  students  subscribed  to  this  memorial 
only  two  refused,  Pyt  and  Guers.  Some  of  the  students 
even  declared  that,  for  this,  these  two  should  not  be 
allowed  to  leave  the  hall.  It  was  supposed  that  they 
would  not  be  permitted  to  attend  lectures  any  more. 
But  all  that  was  done  was  to  ask  them  for  the  confession 
of  their  faith.  The  Venerable  Company  did  what  it 
could  under  the  circumstances.  It  could  not  deny  that 
it  was,  in  fact,  Socinian ;  but  in  outward  form  it  was  still 
Calvinistic.  Under  cover  of  this  it  produced  a  confession 
of  faith,  mainly  taken  from  the  French  Confession.  So 
closed  this  incident.  But  the  attack  of  Empeytaz  pro- 
duced the  effect  he  desired.  It  caused  renewed  agitation 
about  the  divinity  of  Christ  and  called  attention  to  the 
old  doctrines  of  grace. 

Meanwhile  another  event  occurred  that  was  significant 
at  the  time.  Another  voice  was  boldly  lifted  up  for  the 
divinity  of  Christ.  Cellerier  preached  his  farewell  ser- 
mon to  his  congregation  at  Satigny  at  the  Christmas 
festival,  1816.     He  chose  for  his  theme,  "The  Divinity 


GENEVA  361 

of  Christ."     It  produced  a  sensation,  coming  just  at  that 
time.     He  was  succeeded  in  his  pastorate  by  Gaussen. 

Section  2 
the;  visit  of  haldane 

We  have  noted  the  various  influences  at  Geneva  that 
prepared  for  the  revival.  They  were  slight  in  them- 
selves, but  they  only  needed  some  deciding  influence  to 
bring  them  to  a  focus,  so  that  great  results  results  might 
follow.  This  was  brought  about  by  the  visit  of  a 
stranger,  Robert  Haldane.  Empeytaz  had  raised  the 
question  of  the  divinity  of  Christ  and  made  the  Genevese 
think  about  it.  Haldane  came  to  give  an  answer  to  this 
question  by  his  exposition  of  justification  by  faith.  Now 
occurs  a  succession  of  foreign  visitors,  each  of  whom 
helped  on  the  revival,  Wilcox,  Haldane,  Drummond  and 
Anderson ;  but  Haldane  was  the  center  of  the  revival  and 
the  greatest  of  them  all. 

First  there  came,  at  the  beginning  of  1816,  an  Eng- 
lish merchant,  Richard  Wilcox,  a  member  of  the  Cal- 
vinistic  Methodist  Church  of  Wales,  who  spent  a  year 
at  Geneva.  He  took  up  his  quarters  in  the  very  house 
where  Empeytaz  held  his  meetings,  and,  strange  to  say, 
this  house  was  built  on  the  ruins  of  the  cloister  of  Rive, 
where  Farel,  in  1534,  held  the  first  Protestant  service. 
Here  was  the  beginning  of  a  new  reformation,  not  from 
Romanism,  as  in  the  sixteenth  century,  but  from  ration- 
alism, in  the  nineteenth  century.  He  gathered  what  was 
left  of  the  Brethren  around  him  from  time  to  time.  His 
theme  was,  "The  Love  and  Mercy  of  God,  and  the  Cer- 
tainty of  Salvation  Completed  in  Christ."  He  spoke 
mainly  to  Christians,  whereas  what  most  of  them  needed 
was  to  be  dealt  with  as  inquirers.  Guers  says  Wilcox 
strengthened  the  Christians,  but  did  not  open  the  gate 
of  salvation  to  seekers.     Still,  under  him,  they  gained 


362  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

some  light  and  courage. 

But  the  year  was  a  year  of  struggles.  During  the 
year,  Guers  and  Gouthier  were  troubled  with  serious 
doubts  whether  they  were  worthy  to  enter  the  ministry. 
A  heavy  blow  to  them  came  when  young  Bost  was  called 
away  to  the  canton  of  Bern  to  take  a  charge.  Wilcox, 
however,  continued  encouraging  them,  and  left  Geneva 
in  January,  18 17.  They  began  to  pray  that  God  would 
send  some  one  to  guide  them,  and  give  them  success. 
God  heard  their  prayer.  Wilcox  had  hardly  left  when 
Robert  Haldane*  arrived. 

"Haldane's  visit  to  Geneva,"  says  D'Aubigne,  "was 
one  of  the  most  beautiful  episodes  in  the  history  of  the 
Church."     He  was  of  a  prominent  Scotch  family. 

His  younger  brother,  James,  had  entered  the  British 
navy  and  had  risen  to  the  position  of  captain  in  one  of 
the  war-ships. 

On  one  occasion,  being  engaged  in  a  warmly-contested 
battle,  he  saw  all  his  men  on  deck  swept  off  by  a  tre- 
mendous broadside  from  the  enemy.  He  ordered  another 
company  to  be  piped  up  from  below  to  take  the  place 
of  their  fallen  companions.  On  coming  up  they  saw 
the  mangled  remains  strewn  upon  deck  and  were  seized 
with  a  sudden  and  irresistible  panic.  On  seeing  this 
the  captain  jumped  up  and  swore  a  horrid  oath,  impre- 
cating the  vengeance  of  Almighty  God  upon  the 
whole  of  them  and  wishing  that  they  all  might  sink  to 
hell.  An  old  marine,  who  was  a  pious  man,  stepped 
up  to  him.  He  respectfully  touched  his  hat  and  said, 
"Captain,  I  believe  God  hears  prayer,  and  if  God  had 
heard  your  prayer  just  now  what  would  have  become 
of  us?"  Having  spoken  this  he  made  a  respectful  bow 
and  retired  to  his  place.  After  the  engagement  the  cap- 
tain calmly  reflected  on  the  words  of  the  old  marine 
and  was  so  deeply  affected  by  them  that  he  was  subse- 
quently converted.  Of  course,  he  informed  his  brother, 
Robert,  who  was  an  infidel,  of  his  conversion.  The 
latter  was   greatly   offended,   and   requested   him   never 

*  "Memoirs    of    the    Lives    of    Robert    and    James    Alex- 
ander   Haldane,"    London,    1855. 


GENEVA  363 

to  enter  his  house  till  he  had  changed  his  views.  "Very 
well,  Robert,"  said  James,  "but  I  have  one  comfort  in 
this  case,  and  that  is,  you  can  not  prevent  my  praying 
for  you,"  and,  holding  out  his  hand,  he  bade  him  good- 
bye. His  brother,  Robert,  was  so  affected  by  this  that  he 
could  not  get  rid  of  the  idea  that  his  brother  was  pray- 
ing for  him.  He  saw  the  error  of  his  ways  and,  after 
much  reflection,  decided  to  become  a  Christian. 

Robert,  after  devoting  some  years  to  the  work  of 
evangelization  in  his  native  land,  decided  to  sell  his 
estate,  and  found  a  mission  in  India.  But  the  East  India 
Company  did  not  want  missionaries  and  refused  either 
to  take  him  there  or  to  allow  him  to  enter.  So,  as  the 
Spirit  of  God,  which  prevented  Paul  from  entering  Bi- 
thynia,  prevented  him  from  going  to  India,  he  turned  to 
Europe,  seeking  a  sphere  in  which  to  work.  He  became 
deeply  interested  in  the  spiritual  welfare  of  Europe, 
bound  down  as  it  was  by  the  trammels  of  Romanism, 
rationalism  and  state-churchism.  He  went  to  Paris,  but 
not  finding  the  way  open  there  to  evangelize,  he  went  to 
Geneva.  He  came  just  at  the  time  that  Empeytaz  pub- 
lished his  book,  in  November,  18 16.  He  was  surprised 
to  find  the  Church  of  Geneva  so  Socinian.  He  called  on 
Moulinie,  but  while  Moulinie  agreed  with  his  views,  he 
could  suggest  nothing  as  to  the  method  by  which  they 
were  to  be  advanced  at  Geneva.  So  he  left  Geneva  for 
Bern,  where  he  hoped  to  meet  Professor  Sack,  of  Ber- 
lin, and  discuss  with  him  the  religious  condition  of  Ger- 
many. For,  as  he  was  despairing  of  being  able  to  do 
anything  in  Switzerland  and  France,  his  attention  was 
now  turned  to  Germany.  But  God's  providence  ordered 
that  he  should  not  meet  Sack.  God  had  another  field  for 
him  than  Germany — the  very  one  he  wanted.  He  also 
went  to  Basle,  where  he  met  Madame  Krudener  and 
Empeytaz,  who  induced  him  to  give  up  his  plan  of  leaving 
Switzerland  and  go  back  to  Geneva.  They  made  him 
better  acquainted  with  the  state  of  affairs  at  Geneva,  and 


364  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

called  his  attention  to  other  defenders  of  the  truth  be- 
side Moulinie,  as  Gaussen  at  Satigny.  He  returned  and 
again  visited  Moulinie,  but  nothing  practical  seemed  to 
come  out  of  it.  He  had  made  up  his  mind  to  leave 
Geneva,  when  a  strange  providence  occurred  to  detain 
him.  Three  centuries  before  Calvin  had  been  suddenly 
detained  at  Geneva  by  Farel's  urgent  appeal,  and  had 
become  the  great  reformer  there.  So,  too,  Haldane  was 
now  unexpectedly  detained,  to  become,  as  D'Aubigne 
says,  the  leader  of  a  second  reformation  at  Geneva. 

Moulinie  had  offered  to  take  Haldane,  the  day  before 
his  departure,  to  see  a  fine  model  of  the  Alps,  which  was 
located  a  little  distance  outside  of  the  town.  But  provi- 
dence sent  him  a  head-ache  so  that  he  could  not  fulfill 
his  engagement.  He  instead  sent  a  theological  student, 
James,  who  spoke  English,  to  act  as  guide  to  Haldane. 
This  was  Haldane's  opportunity.  Haldane,  finding  he 
was  a  theological  student,  entered  into  conversation  about 
his  studies.  He  was  surprised  to  find  James  so  ignorant 
of  gospel  truth.  He  found  that  the  young  man  was  not 
opposed  to  the  Evangelical  truth,  but  that  he  had  never 
heard  about  it  in  his  theological  lectures.  James  seemed 
very  willing  to  receive  information,  and  returned  with 
Haldane  to  his  room  and  remained  with  him  till  late  that 
night.  When  James  got  to  his  own  room  that  night  he 
exclaimed  to  his  companion,  Rieu,  "Here  is  a  man  who 
knows  the  Bible  like  Calvin." 

This  meeting  of  Haldane  with  this  student  changed 
his  mind.  He  determined  to  remain  at  Geneva.  The 
next  day  James  came  to  him,  bringing  his  companion, 
Charles  Rieu.  Haldane  made  a  deep  impression  on  them. 
They  repeated  their  visit  to  him.  Haldane  found  them 
fully  instructed  in  the  school  of  Socrates  and  Plato,  but 
greatly  ignorant  of  the  doctrines  of  Christ  and  Paul. 
They  knew  far  more  about  the  doctrine  of  the  pagans 
than  about  Christian  doctrines.     And  yet  they  and  their 


GENEVA  365 

friends,  in  spite  of  their  ignorance,  took  the  deepest 
interest  in  learning  Evangelical  truth.  James  and  Rieu 
began  bringing  others  of  the  theological  students  who 
were  of  the  same  serious  mind  as  themselves.  D'Au- 
bigne  gives  a  beautiful  description  of  his  first  meeting 
with  Haldane.     He  says: 

"I  first  learned  of  Mr.  Haldane  as  a  Scotch  gentle- 
man who  spoke  much  about  the  Bible,  which  seemed  a 
very  strange  thing  to  me  and  to  the  other  students  to 
whom  it  was  a  closed  book.  I  afterwards  met  Mr. 
Haldane  at  a  private  house,  along  with  some  friends,  and 
heard  him  read  from  the  English  Bible  a  chapter  from 
Romans  about  the  natural  corruption  of  man — a  doc- 
trine of  which  I  had  never  heard  before.  In  fact,  I 
was  quite  astonished  to  hear  of  men  being  corrupted 
by  nature.  I  remember  saying  to  Mr.  Haldane,  'Now 
I  see  that  doctrine  in  the  Bible.'  'Yes,'  he  replied,  'but 
do  you  see  it  in  your  heart  ?'  That  simple  question  came 
home  to  my  conscience  like  the  sword  of  the  Spirit.  I 
saw  my  heart  was  corrupted  and  could  be  saved  by  grace 
alone."     This  was  the  beginning  of  his  conversion. 

That  D'Aubigne,  who  had  been  the  leader  of  the  stu- 
dents, and  had  presided  at  the  meeting  that  protested 
against  Empeytaz'  book  on  the  divinity  of  Christ,  should 
succumb  to  Evangelical  influences  was  a  great  victory. 
These  students  came  so  frequently  and  at  such  different 
times  that  Haldane  proposed  they  should  all  come  to- 
gether, and  so  it  was  finally  arranged  they  should  come 
three  evenings  a  week.  This  gave  Haldane  time  to  pre- 
pare for  these  evening  meetings,  and  also  to  converse 
with  others  who  came  to  visit  him.  He  then  took  per- 
manent lodgings  at  19  Place  Maurice,  at  the  Sword  Hotel, 
in  the  promenade  St.  Antoine.  His  apartments  over- 
looked the  gardens  in  the  boulevard  to  the  east  of  the 
Plain  Palais,  with  a  noble  prospect  down  the  lake  and 
toward  Savoy  and  the  Alps.  There  he  held  his  Bible 
lectures  on  Mondays  and  Thursdays.  He  met  the  stu- 
dents in  two  spacious  rooms  on  the  first  floor  connected 


366  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

by  folding  doors.  The  students  would  sit  on  chairs 
on  each  side  of  a  long  table,  on  which  were  placed  Bibles 
in  English,  German,  French  and  other  modern  languages, 
besides  in  the  original  languages,  Hebrew  and  Greek. 
The  description  of  these  meetings  was  given  at  the 
Scotch  General  Assembly,  of  1840,  by  Monod  and 
D'Aubigne.  It  so  kindled  the  enthusiasm  of  Dr.  Chal- 
mers that  he  declared  that  to  sit  around  a  table  on  which 
was  the  Bible  was  his  beau-ideal  of  the  study  of  the- 
ology. After  the  lapse  of  many  years,  Monod  said,  "I 
can  picture  this  handsome,  dignified  man  surrounded  by 
students,  his  Bible  in  his  hand,  losing  no  time  in  argu- 
ment, but  pointing  his  finger  to  the  Bible  and  saying, 
"Look,  here  it  is,  written  by  the  finger  of  God."  Hal- 
dane  spoke  in  English  and  was  interpreted  by  either 
Rieu,  Frederick  Monod,  or  James.  Pointing  to  these 
apartments  many  years  afterwards,  D'Aubigne  said, 
"That  was  the  birthplace  of  the  second  reformation  of 
Geneva." 

At  firs-t,  for  a  fortnight,  he  had  eight  students  Then 
he  was  urged  to  begin  anew,  as  he  was  assured  that  all 
the  theological  students  would  attend.  And  they  came 
to  the  number  of  between  twenty  and  thirty.  Haldane 
chose  Paul's  Epistle  to  the  Romans,  that  Magna  Charta 
of  Evangelical  theology.  Monod  confesses  that  many  of 
them  had  never  yet  read  that  epistle.  But  as  Haldane 
went  on,  they  began  to  see  a  whole  system  of  theology 
and  ethics  in  it.  Monod  declared  that  before  this,  Evan- 
gelical truth  had  been  to  them  a  terra  incognita — an 
unknown  world.  What  astonished  them  most  was  not 
merely  the  novelty  of  the  doctrine,  but  Haldane's  mar- 
velous knowledge  of  the  Bible,  and  his  implicit  faith  in 
its  authority.  He  did  not  attack  any  of  their  positions, 
but  simply  put  his  finger  on  the  Bible  saying,  "There  it 
stands,  written  by  the  finger  of  God."  His  patience  in 
listening  to  their  sophisms,  often  invented  just  to  inveigle 


GENEVA  367 

him  into  difficulties,  and  the  carefulness  of  his  answers, 
greatly  astonished  them.  Haldane  says  that  the  doctrine 
that  especially  completed  the  overthrow  of  their  false 
system  of  doctrine  was  the  sublime  view  of  the  majesty 
of  God,  in  the  eleventh  Chapter  of  Romans — "Of  Him, 
through  Him,  and  to  Him,  are  all  things."  As  he  taught 
them,  the  scales  fell  from  their  eyes,  as  from  Saul's  at 
Damascus.  New  doctrines,  new  peace  and  new  life 
came  to  them.  Learners  at  these  meetings,  some  of  them 
went  out  to  be  teachers.  Thus  Guers,  Pyt  and  others 
went  and  held  religious  services  in  the  Place  Molard,  the 
spot  where  Froment  first  preached  the  gospel  in  the  days 
of  the  Reformation.  Since  the  days  of  Francis  Turretin, 
Pictet  and  Maurice,  the  council  of  God  had  not  been 
spoken  with  such  clearness  and  fullness  in  the  city  of 
Calvin,  as  by  Haldane. 

Haldane  was  a  strong  Calvinist,  yet  not  so  polemi- 
cally. He  was  in  truth  Calvinus  redivivus — Calvin 
brought  back  to  life  again  in  Geneva.  His  exposition  of 
Romans  would  have  delighted  Calvin,  it  was  so  Biblical 
and  Calvinistic*  But  he  did  not  teach  the  doctrines  as  if 
they  were  his  own  opinion,  but  as  if  they  were  the  very 
word  of  God.  The  question  of  1817  at  Geneva  was  the 
same  as  under  Luther  in  15 17  at  Wittenberg,  "How 
shall  man  be  just  with  God?"  This  Haldane  explained 
to  them  in  this  Epistle  of  Romans.  Haldane  continued 
lecturing  to  the  students  until  the  end  of  their  semester, 
about  the  middle  of  June.  Only  the  students  took  part 
in  these  conferences,  but  Malan  and  Gaussen,  who  were 
already  ordained,  made  private  visits  to  Haldane  and 
received  the  same  impressions  as  the  students  did.  Hal- 
dane's  wife  also  came  into  social  relation  with  the 
Genevese  and  sought  to  scatter  Evangelical  knowledge. 
By  these  conferences  the  meetings  of  the  Friends   re- 

*Haldane's    "Commentary    on    Romans"    is    published    in 
English. 


368  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

ceived  a  new  impulse.  They  now  learned  to  understand 
fully  what  free  grace  meant,  and  also  election,  and  the 
consciousness  that  they  were  God's  children.  What  Wil- 
cox had  not  been  able  to  fully  clear  up  in  their  minds, 
Haldane  did  make  clear  as  sunlight. 

Meanwhile  the  Venerable  Company  was  not  unmind- 
ful of  what  was  going  on.  They  had  had  their  sense 
of  honor  severely  ruffled  by  Empeytaz'  attack  on  the 
church  for  its  denial  of  Christ's  divinity.  But  now  a 
worse  thing  had  happened, — a  foreigner  had  come  and 
drawn  almost  all  their  theological  students  away.  They 
did  everything  in  their  power  to  keep  the  students  from 
attending  Haldane's  conferences.  Cheneviere,  the  leader 
of  the  church,  walked  in  the  shadow  of  the  trees  in  the 
promenade  St.  Antoine,  at  the  hour  of  their  meeting, 
chaffing  with  indignation,  frowning  on  them  as  they  en- 
tered the  house,  and  taking  their  names  to  report  them 
to  the  faculty.  The  pastors  tried  to  induce  the  civil 
government  to  banish  Haldane.  Unsuccessful  in  this,  it 
proposed  that  Haldane  be  cited  before  the  Venerable 
Company,  to  answer  for  the  doctrines  he  was  teaching 
to  the  students.  When  this  was  proposed,  one  of  the 
members  of  the  company  remarked,  "You  will  not  gain 
much  by  this."  It  would  have  been  an  interesting  sight 
to  see  this  living  Biblical  concordance  (Haldane)  stand 
before  them  and  reveal  to  them  their  ignorance  of  God's 
Word.  His  implicit  faith  in  the  Bible  would  have  put 
their  unbelief  to  shame.  The  Venerable  Company,  there- 
fore, did  nothing.  Gaussen  when  afterwards  asked  why 
the  Venerable  Company  did  not  use  force  against  Hal- 
dane replied,  "They  did  not  dare,  the  students  would 
have  left  them."  For  the  Venerable  Company  was  be- 
ginning to  feel  its  own  weakness.  It  was  finding  that 
it  had  among  its  members  some  champions  of  orthodoxy, 
who  were  now  beginning  to  be  emboldened,   so  as  to 


GENEVA  369 

rise  up  in  its  defence.  And  the  act  of  Malan*  in  boldly 
preaching  in  one  of  their  churches  the  doctrine  of  justi- 
fication by  faith  startled  them  the  more.  The  Vener- 
able Company,  however,  felt  that  something  must  be 
done  to  stem  the  tide  toward  orthodoxy.  So  on  May 
3,  1817,  it  passed  the  four  famous  resolutions,  which 
were  to  be  signed  by  the  ministers  and  candidates  for 
the  ministry.  In  them  they  promised  to  abstain  from 
preaching  on  the  following  points: 

1.  The  manner  in  which  the  divine  and  human  were 
united  in  Christ  (that  is,  to  abstain  from  preaching  his 
divinity). 

2.  The  corruption  of  the  human  heart  or  original 
sin. 

3.  The  way  in  which  grace  works  on  the  heart 
(they  were  not  to  preach  on  justification  by  faith  or 
regeneration  by  the  Holy  Spirit). 

4.  Predestination  (which  the  Venerable  Company 
claimed  led  to  antinomianism). 

Cheneviere  championed  these  regulations  as  a  lover 
of  peace  and  hater  of  controversy.  The  Venerable 
Company  hoped  by  these  regulations  to  restore  peace 
to  the  church  by  forbidding  the  discussion  of  these 
subjects. 

But  matters  had  now  gone  too  far  for  the  sup- 
pression of  the  truth.  Men  might  cry  peace,  but  there 
was  no  peace.  The  Evangelicals  declined  to  be  any 
longer  suppressed,  and  found  defenders  often  where 
least  expected.  Opposition  showed  itself  within  the 
Company  itself.  Cellerier,  Moulinie  and  Demillayer  re- 
fused to  sign  these  regulations.  Malan  protested  May 
22  to  the  Company,  though  later  he  subscribed,  but 
finally  retracted.  The  professors  of  the  theological  fac- 
ulty felt  very  sore  that  a  stranger  like  Haldane  should 
come  between  them  and  their  students.     They  forgot  that 

*  See  next   section. 
24 


370  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

Paul  once  came  as  a  stranger  to  Ephesus  and  Corinth,  and 
that  Calvin  once  came  to  Geneva  as  a  stranger  to  bring 
the  truth  there.  When  Cheneviere  published  his  "Sum- 
mary of  the  Late  Theological  Controversies,"  in  Geneva, 
he  charged  Haldane  with  inoculating  the  students  with 
his  intolerant  spirit,  teaching  them  to  despise  reason  and 
to  trample  on  the  doctrine  of  good  works  by  his  doc- 
trine of  grace.  A  reply  was  made  to  this  by  Rev.  Dr. 
Pye  Smith,  of  England,  and  also  in  a  masterly  way  by 
Haldane,  who  answered  him  point  by  point  out  of  the 
Bible,  and  gave  him  an  epitome  of  most  of  the  leading 
doctrines  of  the  Bible. 

But  Haldane  did  not  remain  long  in  Geneva,  only 
about  four  months  in  all.  Just  as  the  controversies  were 
becoming  most  bitter,  he  left  (June  20)  for  Montauban, 
France.  He  gave  as  his  parting  advice  to  the  students, 
that  they  should  make  the  Word  of  God  their  guide  and 
rule.  If  he  left  any  peculiar  bias  with  them  it  was  in 
favor  of  the  doctrine  of  predestination.  Still  that  was 
only  bringing  them  back  to  the  original  doctrine  of  Gen- 
eva in  the  Reformation.  But  though  Haldane  left  Gen- 
eva, his  influence  remained.  His  visit  created  an  epoch 
in  the  religious  history  of  Geneva,  yes,  in  the  religious 
history  of  Europe.  A  layman,  not  even  a  university 
graduate,  he  did  a  work  that  Dr.  Chalmers,  with  all  his 
learning,  could  not  have  done.  Among  his  converts 
were  the  future  leaders  of  thought  in  French-speaking 
lands, — at  Geneva,  in  Malan,  Gaussen  and  D'Aubigne ; 
in  France,  in  the  older  of  the  Monods,  a  family  so 
prominent  in  the  French  church  of  the  nineteenth  century, 
and  Pyt,  who  led  to  a  revival  in  the  Huguenot  Church 
of  France.  Its  influence  was  also  felt  in  Belgium,  where 
a  new  Evangelical  Church  was  formed  as  the  result  of 
its  work.  So  that  three  countries,  France,  French 
Switzerland  and  Belgium,  felt  its  power.  All  the 
French-speaking  lands  of  Europe  were  shaken  by  it. 


GENEVA  37! 

Section  3 

the  conversion  and  testimony  of  malan 

Malan  has  been  called  the  Caesar  of  the  Revival, — 
the  hero  of  the  revival.  Whether  that  title  is  proper  or 
not  (for  there  were  other  heroes  in  it),  he  seems  to 
have  concentrated  on  himself  the  antipathy  of  the  Na- 
tional Church  of  Geneva  and  also  the  sympathy  of  for- 
eigners. He  was  next  to  Haldane  the  most  remarkable 
personality  in  it.  Henry  Abraham  Caesar  Malan  was  a 
Genevan  by  birth,  born  July  7,  1787,  and  was  educated 
at  Geneva.  His  father  was  a  follower  of  Rosseau,  whose 
belief,  if  he  had  any,  had  no  knowledge  of  sin  in  it. 
But  his  mother  taught  him  the  divinity  of  Christ.  He 
says: 

"I  remember,  at  the  age  of  sixteen,  I  maintained  this 
doctrine  against  some  of  my  fellow-students  in  the  col- 
lege room.  Yet  the  belief  in  it  was  dead  within  me. 
And,  during  my  four  years  of  study,  not  a  syllable 
reached  me  from  the  lips  of  my  instructors  calculated 
to  call  it  to  life.  Yet  I  thought  myself,  and  was  thought 
by  others,  to  be  very  religious.  My  morals  were  unim- 
peachable and  my  general  conversation  reported  devout." 

He  came  out  from  his  theological  course  ignorant 
of  Gospel  truth  and  was  ordained  October,  1810,  at  the 
age  of  23.  His  ordination  vow  was  only  to  preach  ac- 
cording to  the  Bible.  In  1809  after  a  brilliant  examina- 
tion, he  was  named  as  regent  of  the  fifth  class  of  the 
college  and  held  this  position  for  nine  years,  with  great 
credit  to  himself.  No  one  in  Geneva  knew  how  to  elec- 
trify the  youth  as  he,  for  he  had  introduced  the  educational 
method  of  Bell  and  Lancaster,  which  he  had  studied  in 
Pestalozzi's  school  at  Yverdon.  He  was,  therefore,  a 
teacher  during  the  revival,  not  a  pastor,  though  he  often 
preached  in  the  churches.  His  ordination  came  just  at 
the  time  when  the  Friends  organized  their  society,  but 
he    remained   a   complete    stranger   to   their   movement, 


372  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

and  for  the  first  five  or  six  years  after  his  ordination  he 
preached  a  Gospel  diametrically  opposed  to  the  Bible. 
The  Bible  was  to  him  a  sealed  book.  Once,  while  trav- 
eling, he  took  up  the  Bible  and  read  a  chapter  or  two. 
But  he  found  the  style  so  old-fashioned  and  the  lan- 
guage so  commonplace  that  he  laid  it  aside  and  betook 
himself  to  a  volume  of  literature.  During  this  period, 
as  he  spent  a  summer  with  a  Waldensian  pastor,  he 
happened  to  preach  for  him.  After  the  sermon,  the 
latter  said  to  him,  "It  appears  to  me  that  you  have  not 
learned  that  to  convert  others  you  must  yourself  be 
converted.  Your  sermon  was  not  a  Christian  discourse, 
and  I  sincerely  hope  my  people  did  not  understand  it." 
These  were  severe  but  true  words,  as  Malan  afterwards 
granted. 

It  was  not  until  1813  that  he  began  examining  the 
errors  of  rationalism.  In  1814  he  came  somewhat  out 
of  darkness  by  realizing  the  importance  of  the  divinity 
of  Christ.  He  now  came  more  under  the  influence  of 
Evangelical  preaching,  as  by  Moulinie  and  Paul  Henry 
of  Berlin.  In  1815  he  began  arriving  at  the  truth  of  justi- 
fication by  faith.  While  he  was  thus  groping  his  way  to 
the  light,  he  came  into  contact  (in  1816)  with  Professor 
Sack,  of  Berlin,  and  Wendt,  the  pastor  of  the  Lutheran 
Church,  at  Geneva,  both  of  them  Evangelical.  One  even- 
ing Professor  Sack  read  to  him  Romans,  the  fifth  chapter. 
Malan  was  greatly  moved  by  verse  ten,  "For  in  that  he 
died,  he  died  unto  sin  once,  but  in  that  he  liveth,  he  liveth 
unto  God."  Then  came  the  time  of  his  full  conversion, 
early  in  1817.  He  tells  it  thus:  "One  afternoon,  while 
reading  the  New  Testament  at  my  desk  in  school,  while 
the  students  were  preparing  their  lessons,  I  turned  to 
Ephesians,  the  second  chapter,  and  came  to  the  words, 
'By  grace  are  ye  saved  through  faith,  and  that  not  of 
yourselves;  it  is  the  gift  of  God.'  The  passage  seemed 
to  shine  before  my  eyes.     I  was  so  moved  that  I  was 


GENEVA  373 

compelled  to  leave  the  room  and  take  a  walk  in  the 
court-yard,  where  I  walked  up  and  down  with  the  in- 
tensest  enjoyment,  saying:  'I  am  saved,  I  am  saved.'" 
This  event  brought  to  a  climax  all  the  influences  that 
had  gone  before.  Then  he  began  reading  Pictet's  The- 
ology and  the  Canons  of  Dort,  the  old  creed  of  the 
Church  of  Geneva. 

It  was  about  this  time  that  he  came  into  contact 
with  Haldane.  He  had  become  active  in  several  philan- 
thropic enterprises,  among  them  an  asylum  for  fallen 
women.  It  was  this  that  led  him  to  meet  Haldane. 
Although  at  first  he  had  not  had  anything  to  do  with 
Haldane,  yet  it  occurred  to  him  that,  as  Haldane  was  a 
wealthy  Scotchman,  he  might  be  able  to  aid  his  reform 
work,  which  at  that  time  was  greatly  in  need  of  funds. 
He  called  on  Haldane  and  presented  the  claim.  As  he 
left,  Haldane  put  some  money  into  his  hand.  After  the 
door  had  been  closed,  he  looked  to  see  how  much  Hal- 
dane had  given  him,  and  found  it  was  240  francs 
($48).  What  was  most  remarkable  about  it  was  that 
it  was  exactly  the  amount  he  needed  to  pay  a  very  press- 
ing baker's  bill.  This  casual  event  led  to  a  close  friend- 
ship between  them,  and  after  that  Malan  was  often  with 
Haldane.  It  was  from  Haldane  that  he  gained  his  first 
real,  clear  conception  of  justification  by  faith,  by  grace 
alone. 

He  no  sooner  found  salvation  by  grace  than  he 
preached  it.  He  had  preached  on  the  subject  in  a 
country  church  on  the  previous  Christmas,  but  it 
was  on  May  5  and  6,  1817,  that  he  preached  on  it 
at  St.  Gervais  Church,  Geneva.  Once  more  the  gospel 
of  Calvin  was  preached  in  that  church.  It  was  a  plain, 
pungent  sermon.  It  was  preached  in  the  twilight,  which 
made  its  effect  all  the  more  impressive.  In  it  he 
aimed  to  show  the  difference  between  vital,  experimental 
piety    and    a    merely    habitual,    formal    piety.      As    he 


374  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

continued  on  this  subject, — as  he  went  on  to  show  the 
falsity  of  human  righteousness  and  to  exalt  the  righte- 
ousness by  faith,  signs  of  dissatisfaction  began  to  show 
themselves  among  the  audience, — movements  of  ill-con- 
cealed impatience.  And  when  referring  to  the  hand  that 
wrote  at  Belshazzar's  feast,  he  pointed  to  the  wall  at  the 
right  of  the  pulpit,  unconsciously  several  hearers  turned 
toward  the  wall.  Others  shrugged  their  shoulders,  as 
the  French  are  apt  to  do.  Others  broke  all  restraint. 
And  at  his  earnest  appeal  to  sinners,  a  movement  of 
derision  ran  through  the  congregation.  When  he  left 
the  pulpit,  he  strode  through  the  congregation  like  a 
soldier  drummed  out  of  camp  by  his  comrades  or  a 
criminal  marched  to  execution.  His  own  parents  de- 
serted him.  His  wife  was  greatly  distressed.  Every 
look  she  gave  him  was  a  reproach  for  shipwrecking  all 
their  high  hopes  for  the  future.  There  was  only  one  per- 
son who  encouraged  him  for  the  stand  he  had  taken. 
As  he  crossed  the  threshold  of  his  door  he  caught  sight 
of  Haldane,  who  shook  his  hand  warmly  and  said, 
"Thank  God,  the  Gospel  has  again  been  preached  in 
Geneva.  You  will  be  a  martyr  (literally,  a  witness), 
to  the  truth  in  this  place."  Haldane's  words  proved 
true  in  both  senses.  Malan  became  not  only  a  bold  wit- 
ness but  also  a  suffering  martyr. 

The  next  day,  Cheneviere,  in  the  name  of  the  Ven- 
erable Company,  requested  him  to  change  his  doctrine 
because  of  the  danger  that  would  come  from  preaching 
that  good  works  were  not  necessary  to  salvation.  Malan 
refused.  As  a  result,  the  pulpit  was  closed  against  him 
in  the  city,  and  also  by  most  of  the  country  pastors  of 
Geneva.  It  was  because  of  the  agitation  of  the  Evan- 
gelical doctrines  by  the  students  under  Haldane  and  the 
public  avowal  of  them  from  the  pulpit  by  one  of  the 
pastors,  M'alan,  that  the  Venerable  Company  was  led  to 
take  the  decided  action  of  May  3,  to  which  we  have  re- 


GENEVA  375 

ferred.  This  noble  testimony  of  Malan  was  a  bombshell 
in  the  camp  of  Socinianism,  which  had  hitherto  been 
masquerading  as  Calvinism. 

Section  4 
the  church  of  bourg  du  four 

The  result  of  the  regulations  of  the  Venerable  Com- 
pany of  May  3  were  not  what  they  had  hoped.  They 
brought  not  peace,  as  was  hoped,  but  division,  for  they 
forced  the  revival  outside  the  church.  Of  the  Friends, 
Guers,  Pyt  and  Gouthier  refused  to  subscribe  to  the 
regulations.  They  replied  to  the  Venerable  Company 
(May  18)  that  they  had  prepared  a  confession  of  their 
own.  With  the  simplicity  of  a  dove,  and  yet  with  the 
wisdom  of  a  serpent,  they  clothed  it  in  the  language  of 
the  French  confession  of  faith.  Of  course  it  was  criti- 
cised. The  professors  interposed  their  usual  objection 
to  Evangelical  doctrine,  that  it  was  antinomian,  and  de- 
clared that  such  sentiments  were  enough  to  make  men 
brigands.  So  the  Venerable  Company  refused  to  ordain 
these  young  men.  Thus  left  to  themselves,  they  were 
freer  than  under  the  Company.  They  kept  up  their 
meetings.  But  they  were  reduced  to  great  financial 
straits  because  of  the  loss  of  service  in  the  National 
Church.  But  man's  extremity  is  God's  opportunity.  He 
never  suffers  his  own  to  languish.  Providence  sent  help 
from  an  unexpected  source.  Haldane  had  no  sooner 
gone  than  another  Englishman  came,  Henry  Drummond. 
Indeed  it  was  while  Haldane  was  preparing  for  his  de- 
parture and  actually  counting  his  money  for  it,  that  a 
young  Englishman,  thirty  years  of  age,  was  announced 
to  him.  It  was  Drummond,  who  in  his  boyhood  had 
known  Haldane. 

The  history  of  this  whole  movement  is  full  of  strange 
providences,  showing  the  hand  of  God  in  it.     It  was  a 


376  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

providence  that  kept  Haldane  in  Geneva.  It  was  the 
merest  providence  that  brought  Drummond  there,  just 
at  the  moment  to  save  it  from  collapsing,  at  least  finan- 
cially. Drummond  had  been  traveling  in  Palestine.  As 
he  was  returning,  a  storm  compelled  his  captain  to  put 
into  Genoa.  There  he  happened  to  hear  about  the  work 
of  Haldane,  at  Geneva.  He  had  just  sold  his  magnifi- 
cent estate  and  was  hungry  for  work  for  Christ.  Think- 
ing he  might  find  it  at  Geneva,  he  came  there. 

Drummond  lacked  the  prudence  and  poise  of  Haldane, 
for  he  was  young  and  zealous.  Haldane  went  away, 
begging  the  Friends  not  to  take  any  hasty,  ill-advised 
action.  Not  so  Drummond,  for  he  was  a  man  of  action. 
Haldane  contended  himself  with  expounding  the  doc- 
trines of  the  Bible  and  edifying  their  souls  as  individuals. 
Drummond,  on  the  contrary,  urged  his  youthful  follow- 
ers to  the  formation  of  a  separate  denomination.  Drum- 
mond therefore  soon  came  into  collision  with  the  Ven- 
erable Company,  which  Haldane  had  carefully  avoided. 
Drummond's  theological  views  were  Evangelical.  But 
he  did  not  emphasize  justification  by  faith,  as  did  Hal- 
dane. He  rather  emphasized  the  mystical  union  of  Christ 
and  His  church,  and  its  glorious  results.  But  he  be- 
lieved in  the  Bible,  and  was  an  ardent  member  of  the 
British  Bible  Society.  His  wealth  and  high  social  stand- 
ing also  gave  him  influence  at  Geneva.  His  great  liber- 
ality came  in  quite  providentially  to  aid  these  poor  candi- 
dates for  the  ministry,  whose  hope  of  position  was  now 
cut  off,  and  who,  as  we  have  seen,  greatly  needed  finan- 
cial aid.  Just  because  they  were  helped  by  him  thus, 
their  enemies  later  charged  them  with  becoming  Evan- 
gelicals for  the  sake  of  gain. 

The  Venerable  Company  was  now  almost  in  despair. 
They  had  been  greatly  relieved  at  the  news  that  Hal- 
dane was  going  away,  but  now  another  Englishman,  and 
one  more  dangerous  to  them,  had  come  in  Drummond. 


GENEVA 


377 


It  almost  seemed  to  them  as  if  God  were  raining  down 
enemies  on  them.  When  would  these  incursions  from 
England  cease — Wilcox,  Haldane,  Drummond  and  later, 
Anderson?  With  his  aggressive  spirit,  Drummond  soon 
came  into  collision  with  them.  They  felt  something  must 
be  done  with  Drummond.  So  they  sent  a  committee, 
composed  of  Cheneviere,  the  leader  of  the  church,  and 
one  of  the  city  councilors,  to  see  him.  They  found 
him  in  the  garden  of  his  hotel,  talking  to  a  friend.  Un- 
fortunately they  approached  him  in  a  way  that  threw 
them  open  to  defeat,  and  Drummond  was  quick  to  take 
advantage  of  it.  Cheneviere  asked  if  he  expected  to 
teach  the  same  doctrines  as  Haldane  had  done.  Drum- 
mond, with  consummate  shrewdness,  baffled  them  by  re- 
questing from  them  an  exposition  of  the  doctrines  of 
their  great  opponent,  Haldane.  Cheneviere  was  not  to 
be  caught  in  that  way  and  went  away  in  a  rage,  but  not 
until  Drummond  had  avowed  his  belief  in  Christ's  di- 
vinity, and  had  attacked  their  rationalistic  version  of  the 
French  Scriptures  of  1805.  Drummond  was  therefore 
requested  to  leave  the  city. 

He  left  the  city  but  did  not  go  far  away.  The  chil- 
dren of  light  can  sometimes  learn  something  from  the 
children  of  this  world.  He  but  followed  the  example  of 
Voltaire,  and  went  just  over  the  Genevan  border,  into 
France,  to  Ferney,  only  a  few  miles  from  Geneva.  But 
how  different  his  mission  from  that  of  Voltaire.  Vol- 
taire at  Ferney  had  tried  to  utterly  uproot  and  destroy 
Christianity.  Drummond,  on  the  contrary,  was  trying 
to  save  Christianity  by  uprooting  the  semi-infidelity 
taught  there,  under  the  guise  of  Christianity.  Freed 
from  the  control  of  Geneva,  he  now  did  the  thing  that 
proved  more  objectionable  than  anything  else  to  them. 
Being  a  member  of  the  British  Bible  Society,  he  was  in- 
terested in  Bibles,  and  now  he  proposed  to  publish,  at  his 
own  expense,  a  new  edition  of  the  old  Bible  of  Geneva, 


378  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

which  was  Evangelical,  the  French  version  of  Martin, 
so  as  to  offset  the  rationalistic  version  of  1805.  And 
he  proposed  not  only  to  have  it  printed,  but  to  see  that 
it  was  circulated. 

A  notice  in  the  newspaper,  September  12,  1817,  which 
declared  that  he  was  about  to  publish  a  Bible,  caused 
great  excitement,  especially  as  the  version  of  1805  had 
already  been  so  severely  attacked  by  Empeytaz.  The 
Venerable  Company  published,  in  defence  of  their  version, 
an  article  by  Professor  Schulthess,  the  rationalistic  pro- 
fessor of  Zurich.  Thus  one  rationalist  helped  the  other. 
The  consistory  also  tried  to  offset  this  by  spreading  the 
report  that  the  new  sect  were  about  to  publish  a  Bible 
filled  with  their  peculiar  views.  To  this  Drummond 
made  reply,  showing  his  version  was  the  old  Bible  of 
Geneva.  Thus  the  Venerable  Company  lost  at  every 
point,  while  their  opponents  gained  at  every  opportunity. 

The  Friends  now  went  further  and  organized  them- 
selves into  a  church.  Driven  out  of  the  National  Church, 
what  else  could  they  do  ?  The  question  of  separation  was 
laid  before  them  on  August  15,  18 17,  and  on  August 
23  they  decided  on  separation,  and  so  the  Evangelical 
church  of  Geneva  was  founded.  Drummond  urged  them 
to  do  this.  And  they  fortified  themselves  by  an  opinion 
of  Pictet,  given  long  before.     He  said : 

"Every  separation  is  not  a  schism,  though  every 
schism  is  a  separation.  When  a  great  number  of  per- 
sons, ministers  and  laymen,  separated  themselves  from 
Arianism  because  Arianism  was  in  control  of  the  synod 
and  the  church,  that  was  not  a  schism.  In  such  cases 
it  was  permitted  to  separate.  If  the  church  contains 
Socinianism  and  the  errors  of  Servetus,  separation  is 
justifiable." 

On  September  21,  the  Friends,  ten  in  number,  cele- 
brated their  first  Communion  at  Drummond's  house, 
Malan  officiating  and  Burckhardt,  a  missionary  from 
Basle,  taking  part.     As  there  were  only  ten  of  them, 


GENEVA  379 

it  reminded  them  of  another  Lord's  Supper  at  Geneva, 
says  Guers,  when  in  1536,  Guerin  celebrated  it  in  the 
garden  of  Stephen  Dadas,  at  Pre  l'Eveque,  at  sunrise, 
which  was  the  first  Protestant  Communion  celebrated  in 
Geneva. 

The  congregation  also  proceeded  to  call  a  pastor. 
Malan  refused,  as  he  held,  as  we  shall  see,  to  another 
idea  than  separation.  For  he  declared  that  he  had  never 
left  the  old  National  Church  of  Geneva,  and  did  not 
want  to  have  it  cast  up  to  him  that  he  was  a  member  of 
a  new  church,  like  this.  He  claimed  that  he  represented 
the  old  Church  of  Geneva  and  Calvin,  which  in  fact  he 
did,  for  he  was  truer  to  its  doctrine  than  was  the  Church 
of  Geneva  in  his  day.  He  was  therefore  opposed  to 
separation  and  refused  to  accept  the  call.  So  they  called 
Pyt,  Gouthier  and  Mejanel.  The  latter  had  just  come 
there  from  a  trip  through  England  and  Holland  and  had 
been  very  active  in  influencing  them  to  separation.  On 
October  5  the  congregation  celebrated  its  communion, 
Pyt,  though  not  ordained,  distributing  the  elements.  At 
the  beginning  of  1818  Mejanel  was  ordered  to  leave 
because  he  had  embittered  the  Venerable  Company  by  an 
indiscreet  letter,  in  which  he  advised  them  to  tolerance 
against  those  who  thought  otherwise  themselves.  He 
remained  until  March  4,  18 18.  In  the  meanwhile,  the 
congregation  had  been  corresponding  with  Empeytaz 
about  returning.  He  came  back  December  28,  1817, 
and  at  once  founded  a  Sunday  School,  which  was  another 
thorn  in  the  flesh  of  the  Venerable  Company.  In  the 
meanwhile  the  room  at  Tete  Noir,  in  which  they  wor- 
shipped, had  become  too  small,  so  they  removed  to  a 
hall  near  the  "Shield  of  France."  Then  Drummond 
left,  but  not  till  he  had  laid  the  foundations  of  a  Con- 
tinental Society,  under  which  Pyt,  Neff  and  Bost  labored, 
oreder. 

But  now  another  Englishman  came  to  take  his  place, 


380  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

a  merchant  from  London  named  Anderson.  Until  he 
came  they  had  preached  predestination  because  so  taught 
by  Haldane,  but  Anderson  caused  them  to  lower  their 
Calvinism.  He  also  aided  their  further  organization  in 
the  congregation.  On  March  4,  1818,  Pyt  left  for  work 
in  France,  and  Mejanel  was  replaced  as  pastor  by  Guers 
and  Empeytaz.  As  these  pastors  were  liable  to  military 
service,  because  they  did  not  belong  to  the  National 
Church,  Empeytaz  escaped  it  by  ill  health.  Guers  and 
Gouthier  to  escape  it  went  to  England,  where  they  were 
ordained  March  7,  1819,  at  Poultry  Chapel,  by  eight 
pastors,  Presbyterian,  Congregationalist  and  Baptist. 
Thus  they  got  what  the  Genevan  Church  denied — 
ordination. 

On  July  7,  1818,  as  they  opened  a  new  and  larger  hall 
(where  they  remained  till  1839)  at  the  Bourg  du  Four, 
they  were  attacked  by  a  riot.  It  seems  that  one  of  the 
newspapers  called  their  doctrine  a  kind  of  Mohamme- 
danism, mixed  with  a  mixture  of  English  Methodism 
and  German  quietism  (it  was  a  professor  of  theology 
who  wrote  this  in  the  paper).  So  their  hall  was  attacked. 
Cries  were  heard,  as  "Down  with  the  Moravians,"  "To 
the  lantern  or  gibbet,"  "Down  with  Jesus  Christ."  They 
were  pursued  through  the  streets,  pelted  with  stones  and 
insulted  even  in  their  own  homes. 

Meanwhile  this  controversy  in  Geneva  began  to  at- 
tract general  attention  in  the  religious  world.  The  Ven- 
erable Company  found  it  was  gaining  a  very  undesirable 
reputation  for  heterodoxy  and  intolerance.  Sympathy 
came  to  the  little  church  from  many  quarters.  The  theo- 
logical faculty  of  Montauban  in  France,  the  newspapers 
of  France  and  England  directed  attention  to  this  move- 
ment. More  severe  was  the  action  of  the  clergy  of  the 
neighboring  French-speaking  canton  of  Vaud,  who  as 
soon  as  the  regulations  of  May  3  were  published,  under 
the  leadership  of  their  dean,   Curtat,  summarily  broke 


GENEVA  381 

of¥  all  official  relations  with  the  Genevan  Church.  The 
Reformed  Churches  of  France  were  not  willing  to  ac- 
cept as  pastors  any  who  had  signed  those  regulations. 
The  religious  newspapers,  as  the  Archive  du  Christian- 
isme,  at  first  neutral,  then  little  by  little,  went  over  to  the 
other  side  and  complained  against  the  Venerable  Com- 
pany. Within  Geneva  the  great  mass  of  the  people  were 
in  sympathy  with  the  Venerable  Company,  supposing 
that  all  this  was  a  foreign  religious  movement,  because  it 
began  with  Madame  Krudener  and  was  continued  by 
Englishmen.  They  nicknamed  them  Methodists,  though 
none  of  the  foreigners  had  belonged  to  the  Methodist 
Church.  They  looked  upon  it  as  a  foreign  religious 
movement  against  their  pastors,  whom  they  loved  and 
honored,  and  they  therefore  resented  these  attacks.  The 
policy  of  the  government  was  silence  so  that  the  con- 
troversy might  subside.  It  held  it  beneath  its  dignity 
to  pay  attention  to  the  controversies  of  newspapers  and 
pamphlets. 

But  in  1818  the  Evangelicals  unexpectedly  received  aid 
from  a  new  quarter,  and  that  not  from  a  foreigner,  as 
heretofore,  but  from  a  Genevese.  A  lawyer  named 
Grenus,  a  somewhat  whimsical  and  original  character, 
but  belonging  to  one  of  the  better  families  in  Geneva, 
took  up  their  case  from  a  political  standpoint,  and  not 
from  any  sympathy  with  their  religious  views.  He 
looked  upon  it  from  a  purely  legal  standpoint.  He 
brought  accusation  against  the  Venerable  Company  in  the 
courts,  charging  them  with  want  of  fidelity  to  their  trust, 
because  they  had  abandoned  the  Calvinistic  ordinances 
of  old.  He  was  very  severe,  accusing  the  pastors  of 
venality  and  perjury, — that  having  abandoned  the  faith 
of  their  fathers,  they  yet  received  their  revenues.  The 
council  ordered  the  Venerable  Company  to  keep  quiet 
on  the  Grenus'  matter.  So  it  went  through  the  court. 
When   summoned   to  appear  before   the   court,   Grenus 


382  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

wrote  from  a  sick-bed.  But  because  he  failed  to  appear, 
he  was  condemned  for  contumacy.  He  appealed,  but 
died  before  the  appeal  came  up.  The  Evangelicals  did 
not  accept  his  defence,  but  said  that  his  charges  were 
the  cause  of  chagrin  as  much  as  of  astonishment.  With 
it  came  a  literary  conflict.  Grenus  published  "Frag- 
ments of  Genevan  Church  History  in  the  Nineteenth  Cen- 
tury." To  this  an  anonymous  author,  probably  Chen- 
eviere,  responded  in  "Two  Letters  to  a  Friend  on  the 
Actual  State  of  Religion  in  Geneva." 

But  the  most  important  publication  was  that  of  the 
Second  Helvetic  Confession  of  Bullinger,  the  old  creed 
of  the  Swiss  churches.  Gaussen  had  been  very  active 
in  showing  the  illegality  of  the  resolutions  of  May  3, 
and  trying  to  show  that  the  Calvinistic  doctrine  had 
not  lost  legal  power  in  Geneva.  He  demanded  that  the 
Venerable  Company  publish  its  confession  of  faith.  And 
after  they  refused,  he  together  with  Cellerier  published 
this  creed  at  the  beginning  of  1819,  accompanying  it 
with  a  preface  and  some  notes,  in  which  they  declared 
that  churches  without  a  confession  of  faith  were  exposed 
to  confusion.  The  Venerable  Company  was  greatly  ag- 
grieved by  this  and  published  a  defence,  which  showed 
the  dangers  of  confessions  of  faith  and  vindicated  the 
Genevese  clergy  for  ceasing  to  impose  the  Helvetic  Con- 
fession on  its  ministers.  Another  significant  thing  was 
the  nomination  of  Professor  Cheneviere  as  professor  of 
theology  (1818).  This  was  his  vindication  by  Geneva, 
and  also  a  public  avowal  that  the  theological  position  of 
the  church  agreed  with  his  views. 

In  1820  the  little  Moravian  congregation  joined  the 
church  of  the  Bourg  du  Four  and,  as  a  result,  the  latter's 
Calvinistic  tendencies  were  still  further  modified.  In 
1823  the  congregation  was  again  attacked  by  a  riot  as 
had  been  done  in  1818.  During  1823-24  there  was  a 
controversy  within  the  congregation  about  baptism,  but 


GENEVA  383 

division  was  averted  by  allowing  adult  baptism,  but  not 
as  a  public  ordinance.  However,  Empeytaz  resigned, 
and  Bost  was  elected  in  his  place.  In  1825  Bost  pub- 
lished his  defense  of  the  faithful  in  Geneva,  a  reply  to 
a  sermon  by  Chyssiere,  who  had  preached  a  diatribe 
against  the  Evangelicals.  Bost  discussed  the  question, 
"What  is  a  church?"  and  "What  is  a  sect?"  The  church 
he  defined  as  a  union  of  believers;  a  sect,  to  be  a  union 
of  those  who  abandon  the  Gospel.  According  to  this, 
the  National  Church  would  be  a  sect  and  the  Evangeli- 
cals there  would  be  the  church.  For  this,  he  was  charged 
with  calumny.  The  case  came  before  the  court  January, 
1826.  He  was  fined  2,000  francs  ($400),  and  given  six 
months  in  prison  or  the  loss  of  his  rights  as  citizen  for 
five  years.  But  he  defended  himself  so  brilliantly  that 
he  was  fully  acquitted.  But  when  he  left  the  court- 
room it  was  under  police  protection,  for  he  was  followed 
by  a  howling  mob.  From  that  day  everybody  under- 
stood that  there  was  absolute  freedom  in  Geneva  to  dis- 
cuss publicly  the  rights  of  the  old  Protestant  clergy. 
At  the  trial,  though  Bost  and  he  had  differed  theologi- 
cally, yet  Malan  hastened  to  the  court-room  and  re- 
mained with  him  and  his  friends,  until  Bost  was  safe 
from  danger.  The  decision  was  a  triumph  for  the  Evan- 
gelicals but  increased  the  bitterness  of  their  enemies" 
In  1835  Darbyism  came  to  Geneva.  Darby  came  in  1837. 
At  first  he  did  not  refer  to  his  peculiar  views  and  was 
received  with  open  arms  by  the  congregation,  but  it 
resulted  in  a  schism  in  1842.  In  1836  there  occurred  a 
new  conflict.  The  congregation  had  been  formed  mainly 
on  a  congregational  basis.  It  seemed  to  some  as  if  the 
ministers  were  taking  too  much  power  in  their  hands 

*  On  November  1,  1828,  the  first  conference  of  the  In- 
dependent congregations  in  Switzerland  was  held.  There 
were  present  twenty-one  members.  On  February  18,  1829, 
another  was   held  at   Lausanne. 


384  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

and  approaching  more  the  presbyterial  order.  Guers 
declared  from  his  study  of  Scripture  and  experience, 
that  he  favored  Presbyterianism.  But  the  opposition 
finally  got  a  resolution  passed  that  the  congregation 
would  manage  its  own  affairs  and  the  pastors  be  only 
advisory.  Thus  the  congregation  passed  through  a  num- 
ber of  internal  conflicts. 

In  the  meanwhile  a  change  had  been  taking  place  in 
the  National  Church.  The  revival  reacted  on  it.  The 
Evangelicals  in  it  became  bolder.  Gaussen  opened  a 
Sunday  School  at  Satigny.  Although  Cellerier  retired 
from  public  life,  Peschier  now  became  more  openly  Evan- 
gelical. They  were  reinforced  by  Coulin,  formerly  of 
Fredericia,  Denmark,  who  came  as  hospital  chaplain,  and 
by  Diodati.  In  1821  there  was  founded,  under  the 
auspices  of  Gaussen,  Coulin  and  Diodati,  a  missionary 
society,  related  to  the  Basle  mission.  It  replaced  a 
society  of  the  same  name,  founded  at  Bourg  du  Four  in 
1 8 19.  In  1828,  desiring  to  celebrate  a  mission  festival 
in  one  of  the  churches,  it  was  thought  well,  in  order  to 
gain  influence,  to  add  to  the  committee  one  or  two  pas- 
tors of  the  opposite  tendency.  At  this  Gaussen  resigned, 
and  some  of  his  friends  disapproved  of  this  step.  But 
the  missionary  society  continued.  Even  in  the  theological 
school  of  the  National  Church,  Evangelical  influences 
now  appeared.  Cellerier,  Jr.,  was  made  professor  of 
Biblical  criticism.  The  state  was  finding  that  the  revival 
was  not  as  dangerous  as  it  feared.  Time  also  had  its 
influence.  The  regulations  of  May  3,  181 7,  against 
preaching  the  Evangelical  Gospel  had  fallen  into  desue- 
tude and  it  could  be  boldly  preached.  The  church  at 
Bourg  du  Four  had  grown  to  about  300  in  membership 
and  it  prepared  the  way  for  the  later  organization  of  the 
Oratoire. 


GENEVA  385 

Section  5 

malan  and  his  chapel  of  the  testimony 

Malan  was  as  we  have  seen  the  hero  of  the  revival. 
After  he  refused  to  sign  the  regulations  of  May  3,  1817, 
he  asked  for  a  pulpit  for  June  8,  and  was  refused.  He 
keenly  felt  his  exclusion  from  the  pulpit.  He  asked 
(August  1)  to  be  reinstated,  but  the  matter  rested  for  a 
year,  during  which  time  he  was  not  allowed  to  preach  in 
the  churches.  Then  at  the  advice  of  the  Evangelicals  in 
the  National  Church,  especially  of  Cellerier,  he  on  May 
6,  1818,  submitted  to  the  regulations  of  May  3,  1817. 
Cellerier  tried  to  show  him  that  they  were  not  prohibi- 
tive and  referred  more  to  discipline  than  to  doctrine, 
were  ecclesiastical  rather  than  dogmatic.  As  a  result 
he  was  again  allowed  to  preach  twice  in  the  pulpits  of 
the  National  Church,  once  in  May,  on  Matthew  26:4, 
and  again  in  August,  on  James  2 :  14,  "What  is  saving 
faith?"  But  his  sermons  always  produced  controversy. 
The  truth  was  Malan  could  not  keep  silent  about  the 
truth.  He  insisted  on  preaching  the  divinity  of  Christ 
and  justification  by  faith,  for  they  were  the  two  funda- 
mentals of  his  faith.  The  result  was  that  the  Venerable 
Company  finally  (August  21,  1818)  forbade  him  the  pul- 
pit, in  both  city  and  canton.  He  still  continued  in  the 
position  of  teacher,  which  he  had  held  for  so  long  a  time. 
But  on  November  6,  1818,  he  was  deprived  of  that. 
For  the  academic  council  brought  charges  against  him 
for  having  made  alterations  in  the  catechism  that  he 
taught  to  his  students.  He  denied  he  had  altered  the 
catechism,  but  granted  he  has  taught  truths  not  in  the 
catechism.  When  asked  what  principles  of  instruction 
he  followed,  he  replied,  "that  he  taught  according  to 
Calvin's  catechism,  the  canons  of  Dort  and  the  Genevan 
Confession,  all  of  which  had  formerly  been  creeds  of 
Geneva."     When  told  he  had  subscribed  only  to  the  first, 

25 


386  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

he  answered  that  he  could  teach  religion  in  no  other  way. 
They  felt  he  was  insinuating  Evangelical  doctrines  among 
his  students ;  they  dismissed  him.  Another  cause  that 
led  to  his  dismissal  was  the  fact  that  he  had  started  a 
Sunday  School  in  his  school.  Sunday  Schools  were  new 
in  those  days  and  were  frowned  down  upon  everywhere 
by  the  rationalists.  His  school  rapidly  grew  to  250. 
But  after  it  had  been  in  existence  five  months  it  was 
forbidden  by  the  authorities.  Then  he  started  one  at 
Ferney,  where  he  had  also  been  preaching. 

He  was  therefore  cast  out  of  the  National  Church. 
And  yet  he  always  took  the  position  that  he  was  not  a 
separatist.  He  had  never  of  his  own  will  separated  from 
the  church.  He  declared  they  had  separated  from  him, 
not  he  from  them.  He  held  he  represented  the  old 
Church  of  Geneva, — the  church  of  Calvin,  F.  Turretin 
and  Pictet, — and  that  in  casting  him  out  they  made  them- 
selves separatists.  For  this  reason  he  had  not  joined 
the  church  of  Bourg  du  Four  because  it  represented  a 
new  movement.  Another  reason  why  he  did  not  join 
that  church,  was  because  he  was  a  strict  Calvinist,  which 
the  church  of  Bourg  du  Four  was  not.  Anderson  had 
caused  them  to  modify  their  Calvinism.  Besides  that 
church  was  composed  of  various  elements,  as  we  have 
seen.  Malan,  after  his  dismissal  from  the  school,  moved 
to  a  house  in  Pre  l'Eveque,  and  there  opened  a  Sunday 
School  of  120,  in  spite  of  the  opposition  of  the  clergy. 

Out  of  the  church  and  out  of  a  position,  he  was  threat- 
ened with  penury.  And  his  enemies  did  everything  to 
bring  him  to  it.  But  God  sent  him  help.  Englishmen 
aided  him  financially.  The  Presbyterian  Church  of  Scot- 
land gave  him  aid.  He  then  began  to  support  himself  by 
the  sale  of  tracts  and  by  teaching,  and  especially  in  the 
latter  he  acquired  a  great  reputation.  Up  to  1830  his 
house  was  full  of  juvenile  boarders,  18-20  of  them,  most 
of   them   English,   trying  to   learn    French.     His   house 


GENEVA  387 

also  became  the  meeting-place  where  prominent  Chris- 
tians of  all  parts  of  Protestant  Europe  gathered. 

It  was  soon  after  his  suspension  in  1818  that  the 
name  Momier  (mountebank)  came  to  be  given  to  the 
Evangelicals.  He  was  at  that  time  preaching  at  Ferney, 
and  his  enemies  put  an  advertisement  in  one  of  the 
newspapers  of  Geneva,  the  "Feuille  d'Avis,"  of  October 

7,  1818,  about  his  services,  as  follows: 

"On  the  following  Sunday  there  will  be  in  Ferney- 
Voltaire  a  troop  of  Momiers  (mountebanks  or  mum- 
mers), under  the  direction  of  the  master,  Regentin. 
They  will  continue  their  fantastic  performance,  juggling 
and  sleight  of  hand.  The  black  clown  will  amuse  the 
crowd  with  his  drolleries.  Tickets  can  be  had  at  the 
lottery  office." 

This  blasphemous  parody  of  Malan's  services  led 
the  revivalists  ever  afterward  in  French  Switzerland  to 
be  called  Momier  or  mountebanks. 

He  continued  preaching  in  his  own  house,  and  as  his 
audiences  increased,  he  asked  the  authorities  for  a  church, 
but  they  refused  December  28,  1819.  So' he  decided  to 
build  a  chapel  for  himself  in  his  own  grounds  of  his 
house  at  Pre  1'Eveque.  He  began  the  chapel  March  19, 
1820.  He  had  only  fifty  dollars  then,  sent  by  a  brother, 
in  Ireland.  Mrs.  Malan  tried  to  get  him  to  appropriate 
her  property  to  the  building,  and  then  he  determined 
to  sell  his  house  so  as  to  be  able  to  build  the  chapel. 
As  he  was  about  to  do  this,  money  began  coming  in 
in  abundance  and  he  did  not  need  to  do  so.  On  one 
occasion,  when  he  did  not  have  the  money  to  pay  the 
architect  a  certain  sum  on  a  certain  date,  he  received 
two  letters.  He  showed  them  to  his  wife,  saying  that 
God  would  bring  relief.  Inside  was  just  enough  money 
to  pay  the  architect.     The  chapel  was  opened  October 

8,  1820,  and  cost  $4,250.     Unfortunately  the  chapel  was 
not  in  the  city  and  therefore  not  well  located  for  a  con- 


388  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

gregation.  But  it  became  an  Evangelical  center  for  Gen- 
eva. To  him,  his  chapel  was  the  true  church  of  Geneva, 
— the  old  church  of  Calvin.  He  built  this  chapel  that 
the  old  faith  of  the  fathers  might  not  be  entirely  shut 
out  from  Geneva. 

He  soon  came  into  conflict  with  the  State  Church  of 
Geneva,  for  as  a  representative  of  the  old  church,  he 
claimed  the  right  to  administer  the  sacraments  and  to 
perform  marriages.  He  was  attacked  by  them  that,  as  a 
separatist,  he  had  not  the  right  to  perform  those  func- 
tions. He  replied  January,  182 1,  in  a  public  declara- 
tion of  adherence  to  the  Church  of  Geneva.  On  Sep- 
tember 18,  1823,  the  Venerable  Company  finally  took 
the  last  step  against  him,  by  deposing  him  from  the  min- 
istry. On  the  day  he  was  deposed,  he  applied  to  the  Old 
Kirk  of  Scotland,  a  daughter  of  the  Genevan  Church, 
for  admission.  But  difficulties  interposed,  for  it  seemed 
no  one  could  be  a  minister  in  that  church,  who  had  not 
studied  four  years  in  a  Scotch  university.  So  he  applied 
to  the  Secession  Church  of  Scotland,  and  was  received 
by  them.  In  October,  1825,  he  asked  the  magistrates  of 
Geneva  to  recognize  him  as  a  minister,  enclosing  the 
acts  of  the  Scotch  Secession  Church,  which  noted  his 
reception  into  their  church. 

So  instead  of  there  being  one  center  of  Evangelical 
activity  in  Geneva  as  the  result  of  the  revival,  there  were 
now  two,  "The  Bourg  du  Four"  and  the  "Chapel  of  the 
Testimony."  The  Venerable  Company,  which  had  so 
feared  one,  had  now  to  endure  two.  But  it  was  hard  to 
keep  the  relation  between  the  two  Evangelical  congre- 
gations always  amicable.  Malan's  church,  which  always 
insisted  on  high  Calvinism,  looked  with  more  or  less  sus- 
picion on  the  church  of  the  Bourg  du  Four,  because  it 
was  not  Calvinistic,  but  composed  of  heterogeneous  ele- 
ments. This  want  of  confidence,  the  other  church  re- 
sented.    As   a  result,   all   efforts   at   conciliation   failed. 


GENEVA  389 

In  1823-24  Malan  accused  Bost  and  Neff  of  Arminianism. 
There  was  also  another  difference,  namely,  in  church 
government,  Malan's  chapel  being  Presbyterian,  and  the 
other  Congregational.  The  Bourg  du  Four  Church  also 
resented  Malan's  calling  his  church  the  Chapel  of  the 
Testimony,  as  a  reflection  on  their  church,  as  if  it  did 
not  bear  testimony  for  the  truth.  But  little  by  little, 
the  views  of  the  Bourg  du  Four  infiltrated  into  Malan's 
congregation.  In  1830  one-third  of  his  congregation 
(about  60),  among  them  some  of  his  warmest  friends,  left 
and  joined  the  Bourg  du  Four.  For  Malan  was  not 
only  Presbyterian,  but  a  high-Presbyterian  in  his  idea 
of  the  ministry.  He  kept  all  the  authority  in  his  own 
hand.  And  when  some  in  his  congregation  wanted  the 
power  also  in  the  hands  of  the  congregation,  especially 
of  the  elders,  he  opposed  it.  It  seems  he  had  asked  a 
vote  of  confidence  in  his  doctrine  and  they  resented  this. 
Before  this  time  his  chapel  had  been  well  filled,  but  after 
it,  his  audiences  lessened  every  year. 

The  truth  was  that  Malan  was  more  of  an  Evangelist 
than  a  pastor.  He  was  especially  strong  as  a  preacher, 
earnest,  impressive  and  solemn.  His  sermons  were  always 
full  of  Gospel  truth  and  interesting.  His  first  evangelistic 
tour  was  in  1822,  his  second  in  1826  to  England  and  Scot- 
land, and  later  in  1833,  1834,  1839  and  1843,  where  he  was 
received  with  great  enthusiasm  as  a  sufferer  for  Evan- 
gelical Christianity,  which  had  roused  a  great  deal  of 
sympathy  for  him.  Shortly  after  his  return  to  Ge- 
neva (1826)  he  received  the  degree  of  doctor  of  divinity 
from  the  University  of  Glasgow.  Up  to  1856  he  made 
many  evangelistic  tours  to  England,  Scotland,  France, 
Germany,  Belgium,  Holland  and  the  Waldensian  valleys. 
As  an  illustration  of  his  rare  power  as  a  preacher,  it  is 
related  that  one  day  in  England,  as  he  was  leaving  the 
pulpit,  an  old  man  stepped  up  to  him,  saying:  "I  bless 
God  that  I  have  this  day  heard  Romaine  and  Whitfield." 


390  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

Malan  asked  him  for  his  name.     He  replied  Rowland 
Hill.* 

He  was  also  an  evangelist  in  personal  work  as  well 
as  in  preaching.  On  the  steamboat,  in  the  diligence,  by 
the  mountain  walk  and  at  the  hotel,  he  never  lost  an 
opportunity  to  speak  a  word  for  Christ.  No  one  under- 
stood better  than  he  how  to  introduce  the  Gospel.  Many 
illustrations  of  this  are  given. 

Once  he  was  travelling  on  the  train,  when,  at  Angou- 
leme,  a  young  Parisian,  amiable  and  of  well-bred  man- 
ners, took  his  place  in  the  conveyance  and  accosted  him 
at  once  with  the  question:  "Come  from  Paris,  sir?  Of 
course,  you've  seen  the  'Huguenots'"  (referring  to  the 
opera  of  that  name).  "No,  I  did  not,  but  I  have  their 
treasure  here"  (drawing  a  New  Testament  from  his 
pocket  and  presenting  it  to  him).  "Ah,"  said  the  young 
man,  "good  enough  for  children — mere  fables."  "How 
about  your  soul?"  then  asked  Malan.  "My  soul?  I 
haven't  one.  When  you  die,  you  die  altogether."  And 
he  proceeded  to  expound  a  system  of  materialism.  Malan 
could  have  answered  his  materialism,  but  preferred  to 
let  the  Word  speak  for  itself,  and  read  some  Scripture 
passages.  The  young  man  became  annoyed,  for  they 
pricked  his  conscience.  He  worked  himself  up  into  a 
great  rage  and  sat  silently  biting  his  lips.  He  remained 
thus  for  a  half  an  hour,  and  then  exclaimed  suddenly,  "I 
should  like  to  have  such  a  book,  for  I  begin  to  think  its 
contents  are  true,  and  I  have  been  under  a  delusion." 
Malan  gave  him  his  own  New  Testament,  and  met  him 
afterwards  at  Bordeaux,  where  he  constantly  attended 
his  ministry  and  showed  in  many  ways  that  he  had  been 
deeply  impressed. 

One  day  he  was  on  top  of  a  diligence  between  Paris 
and  Marseilles.  Sitting  beside  him  were  five  young  mer- 
chants, whom  he  had  heard  chatting  in  a  lively  strain 
about  a  thousand  things.  Suddenly  Malan  turned  to 
them :  "You  Frenchmen  appear  to  me  like  paper  kites 
without  a  string."  "First  of  all,"  said  one  of  them, 
"will  you  be  so  good  as  to  prove  that  we  are  paper  kites, 

*  Who  had  been  one  of  the  greatest  preachers  in  England- 


GENEVA 


391 


and  then  you  will  tell  us  how  we  come  to  be  without 
a  string."  It  was  not  difficult  for  Malan  to  prove  that 
man  is  but  the  spirit  of  vanity  and,  unless  held  in  by 
the  cord  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  is  carried  away  by  every 
unruly  wind  of  passion.  They  listened  attentively,  and, 
four  of  them  leaving  at  Sevres,  he  had  an  earnest  and 
prolonged  conversation  with  the  fifth. 

In  1828  or  1829,  on  one  of  the  lake  steam-boats, 
Malan,  having  received  the  captain's  consent,  mounted 
a  pile  of  cables  in  the  forepart  of  the  vessel,  New  Tes- 
tament in  hand,  and  invited  those  present  to  gather 
round  and  listen  to  the  Word  of  God.  A  listening  crowd 
gathered  around  him.  A  gentleman,  who  had  betrayed 
some  impatience  at  first  at  such  a  scene,  came  up  to 
him  afterward  and,  grasping  his  hand,  declared  that  he 
had  apprehended  the  gospel  for  the  first  time  that  day, 
and  would  become  a  Christian. 

One  day,  as  he  climbed  from  Biel  to  Sonceboz,  he 
unhooked  his  knapsack  and  stopped  at  an  inn.  He  said 
to  the  land-lady  that  he  intended  to  have  prayers  after 
supper,  and  if  she  and  her  house  would  like  to  come, 
they  would  be  welcome.  "We  don't  require  that  sort 
of  thing  here,"  she  replied.  He  thereupon  resumed  his 
knapsack  and  staff  for  another  hour's  walk,  saying, 
"Come,  I  can  not  pass  a  night  under  a  roof  where  there 
is  no  desire  for  prayer  and  no  fear  of  God."  As  they 
went  on  they  came  to  some  wagons  loaded  with  planks. 
Malan  gave  a  tract  to  the  young  fellow  driving  the 
first,  who  thanked  him  politely.  In  a  few  minutes  the 
young  man  came  and  asked  to  have  something  in  the 
tract  explained,  as  he  could  not  understand.  Malan  ex- 
plained it  to  him  and  invited  him  to  come  to  evening 
worship  at  Tavannes,  which  he  did. 

The  next  morning  Malan  and  his  party  started  at 
dawn.  After  travelling  for  about  two  hours,  at  an  inn, 
Malan  noticed  a  young  woman  in  attendance,  who,  from 
time  to  time,  put  her  apron  to  her  eyes.  She  confessed 
she  had  lost  her  husband  and  was  very  unhappy.  He 
spoke  to  her  the  comforting  assurances  of  the  gospel. 
She  asked  to  be  allowed  to  go  and  bring  her  friend, 
Jeannette.  She  soon  returned  with  a  young  peasant, 
and  Malan  spoke  to  them  both.  He  then  went  to  visit 
Jeannette's    father,    who    was    lying   ill    close   by.     The 


392 


THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 


white-haired  old  man  lay  near  the  window.  "Father," 
she  said  "I  have  brought  you  a  minister  of  the  gospel." 
"God  be  praised,"  the  old  man  replied.  Malan  asked 
him  how  he  had  come  to  the  knowledge  of  the  gospel. 
He  replied,  "On  this  bed,  where  I  have  lain  for  many 
years,  and  through  reading  a  book  written  by  a  Mr. 
Malan,  of  Geneva.  Ah,  had  I  not  been  aged  and  infirm, 
I  should  have  gone  there  to  see  him.  I  have  entreated 
the  Lord  earnestly  to  let  me  see  him  ere  I  die."  "What 
is  the  name  of  the  book?"  asked  Malan.  "Here  it  is," 
the  aged  saint  replied,  "it  is  always  with  me."  He  drew 
out  from  under  his  pillow  a  well-worn  copy  of  one  of 
the  earliest  editions  of  Malan's  hymns.  Then  Malan 
said,  "We  have  come  from  Geneva."  "Perhaps,"  said 
the  old  man,  "you  have  seen  Malan."  "Yes,  I  know  him 
well,"  answered  Malan.  He  prayed  and  then  sang  some 
of  his  own  hymns.  He  then  started  for  the  door,  but  he 
went  back  and  said  to  the  old  Christian,  "God  has 
granted  your  prayer;  I  am  Malan,  of  Geneva,  your 
brother  in  the  faith  of  our  blessed  Saviour."  The  old 
man,  fixing  his  eyes  on  him  with  a  long  and  ardent  gaze 
and  slowly  raising  his  trembling  hands,  said,  "Bless  me, 
bless  me  before  I  die."  Falling  on  his  knees  before 
the  bedside,  Malan  said,  "You  ought  rather  to  bless  me, 
for  you  are  old  enough  to  be  my  father.  But  all  bless- 
ing comes  from  God;  let  us  ask  it  of  Him  together." 
And,  folding  in  his  arms  the  lowly  brother  whom  he  felt 
he  would  never  see  here  again,  he  invoked  on  him  the 
peace  that  Jesus  gives,  and  left  the  house. 

Malan  was  also  active  in  literary  work,  writing  tracts, 
giving  the  incidents  and  results  of  his  evangelistic  work. 
In  1827  he  founded  a  society  for  the  dissemination  of 
tracts,  Bibles  and  mission  literature.  He  also  renewed 
his  efforts  to  found  a  school  of  Evangelical  theology  at 
Geneva,  which  idea  he  had  had  ever  since  1825.  Indeed, 
he  began  instruction  in  theology  December,  1827,  and 
kept  it  up  for  more  than  a  year  to  four  students,  one  of 
whom,  on  account  of  his  orthodoxy,  had  been  compelled 
to  give  up  entering  the  State  Church  of  Geneva. 

He  also  wrote  a  number  of  polemical  works,  espe- 


GENEVA  393 

cially  against  the  Socinianism  of  the  cantonal  Church  of 
Geneva.  Thus  when  Prof.  Cheneviere  published  (1831) 
his  "Essay  on  the  Theological  System  of  the  Trinity," 
in  which  he  recognized  Jesus  as  a  divine  being,  but 
attacked  the  Athanasian  doctrines  as  contrary  to 
reason  and  Scripture,  Malan  replied  in  a  work  entitled, 
"Jesus  Christ,  the  Eternal  God,  Manifest  in  the  Flesh," 
which  quickly  ran  through  two  editions  and  produced  a 
great  sensation  at  Geneva.  When  the  Venerable  Com- 
pany, in  connection  with  the  centenary  of  the  Reforma- 
tion in  1835,  published  a  new  edition  of  their  rationalis- 
tic translation  of  the  Bible  of  1805,  Malan  attacked  it. 
In  connection  with  this  centenary,  the  Venerable  Com- 
pany offered  a  prize  for  an  essay  on  "Methodism  (mean- 
ing the  Evangelical  party),  Its  Causes  and  Remedies." 
Malan  wrote  on  it  at  once.  But  as  his  work  was  written 
from  an  Evangelical  standpoint,  of  course  he  did  not 
get  the  prize.  To  Cheneviere's  tract  on  predestination, 
he  replied  by  a  reprint  of  "The  Congregation"  of  Calvin. 
A  copy  of  that  forgotten  work  had  just  then,  in  jest, 
been  sent  him  by  a  book-seller  at  Geneva.  He  thus  re- 
plied by  showing  that  the  doctrine  of  predestination  was 
Calvin's  doctrine.  He  also,  in  connection  with  that 
Reformation  jubilee,  published  a  work  entitled,  "The 
True  Jubilee."  When  an  effort  was  made  to  erect  a 
statue  to  Rosseau  in  Geneva,  he  wrote  against  it,  even 
though  it  made  him  very  unpopular,  so  that  it  was  for- 
tunate that  a  lameness  prevented  his  going  out  for  a 
month.  He  published  this  under  the  title,  "The  Folly 
of  the  Wise  Man  of  the  World."  After  the  statue  was 
erected  on  Rosseau's  Island,  in  the  river  Rhone  at  Gen- 
eva, he  never  would  set  his  foot  on  the  island.  He  was 
also  polemical  against  the  Catholics.  He  wrote  a  tract 
against  Abbe  Bouday,  "Would  it  be  possible  for  me  to 
enter  the  Catholic  Church?"  To  an  unbelieving  Roman- 
ist, who  asked,  "Must  I  change  my  religion?"  he  replied, 


394 


THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 


"Sir,  it  is  necessary  first  of  all  that  you  have  a  religion 
to  change."  All  these  publications  exerted  an  influence 
favorable  to  the  Evangelical  Gospel. 

In  1849,  when  the  two  congregations  of  the  Oratoire 
and  the  Pelisserie  united,  he  for  doctrinal  reasons  did 
not  go  into  the  union.  In  1854  he  took  steps  toward 
uniting  with  the  Evangelical  Society,  but  his  require- 
ments were  not  agreed  to.  He  had  a  fashion  of  giving 
his  views  on  union  thus:  "Fusion,  confusion;  union, 
communion,"  referring  in  this  to  the  Bourg  du  Four 
with  its  dissensions. 

Malan  was  the  greatest  of  the  hymn-writers  in  the 
French  language.  For  the  Huguenots  since  the  Refor- 
mation had  always  sung  Psalms  which  had  become  very 
dear  to  them  because  inwrought  in  their  life  and  history, 
through  the  persecutions.  But  in  spite  of  this  love  of  the 
French  for  their  Psalms,  Malan's  hymns  became  quite 
popular.  In  1821  he  published  thirty-five.  These  were 
increased  by  1855  to  300.  They  were  just  the  hymns 
the  revival  needed.  Once,  when  his  physician  prescribed 
rest  for  him,  he  composed  in  seventeen  days  no  less  than 
fifty-three  hymns.  In  all,  his  hymns  numbered  1,000. 
Only  one  of  them  has  become  prominent  in  our  English 
hymn-books,  and  has  been  translated  in  two  ways, — "It 
is  not  death  to  die"  or  "No,  no,  it  is  not  dying."  He 
was  also  the  composer  of  tunes  for  his  hymns,  several 
of  which  are  used  in  our  English  congregations,  as  Hen- 
don  and  Rosefield.  One  of  the  greatest  joys  of  his  life 
was  the  meeting  of  the  Evangelical  Alliance  at  Geneva 
in  1861.*  A  very  remarkable  fact  in  connection  with 
i-.  was  that  he  was  again  permitted  to  re-enter  the  cathe- 
dral   at    Geneva,    where,    forty    years    before,    he    had 

*  The  National  Church  of  Geneva  did  not  join  in  this 
meeting  of  the  Evangelical  Alliance,  and  twenty-two  of  its 
ministers  sent  a  protest  against  its  declaration  of  Evangelical 
principles. 


GENEVA  395 

preached  an  Evangelical  sermon,  which  led  to  his  sus- 
pension from  the  ministry  of  the  cantonal  church.  But 
his  health  was  failing  rapidly.  The  last  few  years  of 
his  life  he  lived  at  Vandoeuvres. 

One  day,  in  1862,  his  inexperienced  servant  was 
amazed  to  see  a  carriage  stop  at  our  little  garden  gate 
and  a  noble  lady  issue  from  it  with  her  attendants. 
This  maid  ran  to  Malan's  room  announcing  a  stranger 
by  some  inconceivable  name.  Going  downstairs  he  found 
himself  in  the  presence  of  the  Queen  of  Holland,  who 
had  spared  a  few  hours  in  passing  through  Geneva  to 
pay  him  a  visit  at  Vandouvres.  Malan  was  asked  after- 
wards by  Rev.  Paul  Henry  if  he  had  been  careful  in  ad- 
dressing her  to  observe  the  prescribed  forms.  He  replied, 
"I  know  nothing  about  that,  positively ;  all  I  know  is  that 
I  addressed  her  as  a  minister  of  God.  I  had  no  time 
but  to  think  of  eternal  things.  The  one  important  con- 
sideration is  the  gospel  and  the  Saviour.  We  spoke  of 
the  salvation  of  the  soul,  of  the  vast  eternity  to  which 
we  are  hastening." 

In  June,  1863,  he  ordained  Lenoir,  as  his  assistant, 
and  in  November  he  preached  his  last  sermon.  The  last 
two  months  were  one  long  agony,  yet  he  bore  it  with 
great  patience.  One  of  his  sons  asked  him  if  he  had  no 
anxiety  of  soul.  He  replied,  "No,  in  my  heaven  there 
are  no  clouds."  He  died  on  Sunday,  May  18,  1864. 
That  morning  his  eldest  daughter  said  to  him:  "Father, 
this  is  the  day  when  the  Lord  Jesus  will  come  to  receive 
you  to  Himself."  A  beautiful  smile  lit  up  his  face  and 
he  fell  asleep  to  wake  no  more.  Malan's  doctor,  on 
quitting  his  dying  bed,  said : 

"I  have  just  seen  what  I  have  heard  spoken  of,  but 
which  I  had  never  seen  before.  Now  I  have  seen  it  as 
surely  as  I  hold  this  stick  in  my  hand."  "And  what 
have  you  seen  ?"  he  was  asked.  He  replied,  "I  have  seen 
faith,  I  say,  the  faith,  not  of  a  theologian,  but  of  the 
Christian.     I  have  seen  it  with  my  own  eyes." 

Perhaps  of  all  the  characteristics  of  this  remarkable 
man,  the  most  impressive  was  his  supreme  faith  in  the 


396  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

Word  of  God.  He  said,  "The  Bible  is  the  very  Word 
of  God."  He  was  a  strong  predestinarian,  but  viewed 
it  rather  as  a  comfort  than  as  a  mere  doctrine.  He 
followed  the  doctrinal  system  of  the  federal  school,  as 
symbolized  in  the  Canons  of  Dort  and  the  Westminster 
Confessions.  He  was  a  fine  polemist  and  a  thorn  in  the 
flesh  to  the  rationalists  led  by  Cheneviere,  often  the 
frivolous  and  sarcastic  professor  of  theology,  for  whom 
he  was  more  than  a  match  every  time.  When  the  Evan- 
gelical Church  of  Geneva  was  later  formed,  a  part  of  the 
little  congregation  that  remained  in  the  Chapel  of  the 
Testimony  went  into  it. 

Section  6 

FELIX  neef* 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  converts  of  the  revival 
was  Felix  Neff.  Born  in  Geneva,  October  8,  1798,  he 
learned  the  trade  of  gardener.  A  lover  of  books  and  a 
diligent  student  of  nature,  at  the  age  of  sixteen  he  had 
published  a  pamphlet  on  the  culture  of  trees.  At  sev- 
enteen he  entered  the  army  and  at  nineteen  was  made 
sergeant.  He  was  at  first  opposed  to  the  revival.  The 
revival  converted  two  of  its  most  bitter  opponents, 
D'Aubigne,  who  had  presided  at  the  meeting  to  protest 
against  Empeytaz's  book,  and  Felix  Neff.  For  when 
the  church  of  Bour  du  Four  was  mobbed  July  7,  1818, 
he,  as  sergeant,  was  called  out  to  repress  the  mob.  He 
plunged  his  sabre  into  the  wall,  declaring  that  so  he 
would  plunge  it  into  the  body  of  the  first  person  who 
would  defend  those  miserable  creatures,  meaning  the 
Evangelicals.  A  month  later  he  was  a  changed  man, 
and  had   joined  the   church   of   Bourg   du   Four.     The 

*  See    "Letters    and    Biography    of    Felix    Neff,"    trans- 
lated from  the  French  by  Wyatt.  London,  1843. 


GENEVA  397 

Spirit  of  God  had  changed  Saul  into  Paul,  and  had 
changed  Felix,  who  like  Felix  of  old,  the  Roman  gov- 
ernor of  Scripture,  trembled  under  Paul's  preaching,  until 
he  became  Felix  Neff,  the  Christian  and  the  preacher. 
The  next  year,  to  the  surprise  of  his  officers,  he  an- 
nounced that  he  would  change  the  sword  of  war  for  the 
sword  of  the  Gospel.  He  went  everywhere,  telling  the 
Gospel  in  prisons  and  hospitals  and  barracks,  with  great 
simplicity  and  acceptance,  from  18 19-21.  He  was  no 
scholar,  but  he  had  such  a  splendid  memory  that  he 
could  recite  whole  books  of  the  Bible.  In  May,  1821, 
during  the  absence  of  Guers  and  Gouthier  in  London 
for  ordination,  he  supplied  the  pulpit  of  the  Bourg  du 
Four.  In  August,  182 1,  he  became  assistant  pastor  at 
Grenoble,  in  France.  Then  he  accepted  a  call  to  Mens, 
where  his  zeal  led  to  a  revival.  Feeling  the  need  of 
ordination  he  went  to  London  and  was  ordained  at  Poul- 
try Chapel,  May  19,  1823.  Then  he  accepted  a  call  to 
the  "High  Alps,"  a  district  south  of  Geneva  and  on  the 
frontiers  of  France  and  Switzerland,  made  famous  by 
the  persecutions  of  the  Waldenses  in  previous  centuries. 
It  was  a  terribly  hard  field  as  the  parish  was  immense 
in  size,  sixty  miles  in  length  and  made  twenty  miles 
more  by  the  windings  made  necessary  by  the  mountains. 
It  took  him  three  weeks  to  complete  the  first  tour  of  it. 
The  villages  in  it  were  separated  by  gorges  and  moun- 
tain passes  for  the  most  part  impassable  in  winter.  His 
parsonage  was  at  La  Chalpe.  His  first  visit  to  Dormil- 
house  was  made  in  January,  when  the  mountain  passes 
were  blocked  by  snow  and  ice.  Assembling  the  young 
men  they  started,  armed  with  hatchets.  With  these  they 
cut  steps  in  the  ice,  so  that  the  worshippers  from  the 
lower  hamlets  could  climb  to  the  church.  The  people 
who  first  came  to  hear  him  at  Violens  brought  wisps  of 
straw,  which  they  lighted  so  as  to  guide  them  through 
the  snow,  while  others,   who  came  a  greater  distance, 


398  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

carried  lighted  torches.  His  activity  in  reaching  his  peo- 
ple was  so  great  that  he  was  never  in  his  parsonage 
more  than  two  or  three  days  a  month.  With  staff  in 
hand  and  wallet  on  his  back,  he  traveled  continuously. 
It  is  said  he  never  slept  three  nights  in  the  same  bed. 

He  found  the  people  in  that  cold  district  fearfully 
low  in  civilization.  In  many  of  the  villages  the  stable 
was  the  family's  living,  eating  and  sleeping  room.  Bread 
was  baked  once  a  year  and  softened  in  water,  so  as  to 
make  it  fit  to  be  eaten.  He  therefore  became  a  social 
reformer  as  well  as  a  pastor,  imitating  Oberlin  in  this. 
He  taught  them  how  to  improve  their  houses  by  the 
introduction  of  windows  and  chimneys,  and  also  taught 
them  cleanliness.  To  prevent  drought  at  Dormilhouse 
he  prevailed  on  them  to  cut  a  passage  from  the  moun- 
tains, so  that  they  might  dam  up  the  water  in  winter  and 
then  open  the  dam  in  time  of  drought,  in  summer.  They 
agreed  to  do  it  if  he  would  lead.  He  found  that  their 
method  of  raising  potatoes,  which  were  their  main  food, 
was  very  faulty,  because  it  was  their  habit  to  plant  them 
too  close  together.  He  took  their  hoe  or  spade  out 
of  their  hands,  so  as  to  show  them  how  to  plant  them 
better.  Only  a  few  permitted  him  to  do  this,  and  some 
of  them  took  the  potatoes  up  after  his  back  was  turned. 
But  in  the  following  harvest  those  who  followed  his 
advice  had  the  larger  crops  and  the  better  potatoes.  He 
was  their  schoolmaster  during  the  long  winter,  when 
they  were  snowed  up  in  their  villages.  He  taught  them 
reading  and  singing.  By  turns  he  was  minister,  school- 
master, physician,  pioneer,  engineer,  gardener  and 
architect. 

Their  moral  and  religious  condition  was  as  low  as 
their  temporal  condition.  When  he  first  came  among 
them  in  some  of  the  villages,  they  ran  from  his  sight 
to  their  huts.  They  had  not  had  a  pastor  for  so  many 
years,  and  as  they  had  had  no  schools  generation  after 


GENEVA 


399 


generation,  had  grown  up  in  ignorance.  His  work  was 
hard,  for  their  hearts  often  seemed  as  hard  as  the  rocks 
around  them,  and  as  cold  as  the  glaciers  of  their  district. 
But  he  preached  so  faithfully  and  labored  so  earnestly 
that  they  all  learned  to  greatly  love  him.  As  a  result, 
during  holy  week  of  1825,  there  was  a  real  revival  in 
some  of  his  villages.  Alexander  Valon,  who  boasted  a 
year  before  of  being  the  wildest  and  most  profligate  man 
in  all  the  country,  and  had  been  in  prison,  was  converted 
and  became  one  of  his  school-teachers.  Neff  organized  a 
Bible  society  there,  for  there  were  not  twelve  Bibles  in 
the  whole  parish.  Now  they  tried  to  have  one  in  each 
family.  But  being  very  poor  they  had  to  practice  great 
sacrifices  in  order  to  get  one,  one  family  giving  up  a 
pig,  another  going  without  salt,  etc.  The  people  learned 
to  love  him  so  much  that  they  esteemed  themselves  for- 
tunate if  he  only  ate  their  rye-bread  and  pottage  with 
them  in  their  home  or  slept  there.  On  one  occasion,  as 
he  was  going  from  Minsas  to  Dormilhouse,  lo,  he  saw 
that  all  the  inhabitants  had  come  out  to  the  top  of  the 
mountain,  to  watch  for  his  coming.  When  he  came 
near,  many  of  them  descended  so  as  to  welcome  him. 
He  motioned  them  not  to  do  so,  as  they  would  only 
have  to  climb  back  up  their  steep  hill.  But  they  hur- 
ried down  the  slippery  and  treacherous  path  so  as  to 
literally  throw  themselves  in  his  arms.  When  he  gently 
blamed  them  for  so  doing,  one  of  them  replied,  "It  is 
not  often  that  we  have  the  enjoyment  of  walking  with  you, 
and  we  value  it  too  much  to  lose  it."  Such  was  the 
love  of  the  people  for  him.  "They  loved  him  because 
he  loved  them,  and  he  loved  them  because  Christ  loved 
him." 

But  the  severity  of  his  labors,  the  rigor  of  the  climate 
and  the  wretchedness  of  the  food  began  to  tell  on  him, 
and  by  April,  1827,  he  was  compelled  to  leave  and  go 
to  Geneva.     Unable  to  return  to  the  "High  Alps,"  he 


400 


THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 


tried  to  be  their  pastor  by  correspondence  and  very 
beautiful  were  the  letters  he  sent  them.  His  last  letter 
is  signed  "Felix  Neff  dying."  When  dying,  he  said: 
"Adieu,  I  am  departing  to  our  Father  in  full  victory. 
Victory,  victory,  victory,  through  Jesus  Christ."  He 
died  April  12,  1829,  at  the  early  age  of  thirty-one,  worn 
out  by  his  passion  for  soul-saving.  Malan  and  Neff 
were  the  two  great  evangelists  that  the  revival  produced. 


BOOK  V 

THE  RELIGIOUS  EVENTS  OF  THE  NINETEENTH 
CENTURY 


26 


PART   I 

THE  GERMAN  CANTONS 
CHAPTER  I 

Introductory 

Section  i 

secular  events 

The  Napoleonic  era  had  enlarged  the  number  of 
cantons,  as  by  the  addition  of  Vaud  and  Aargau  and 
others.  The  fall  of  Napoleon  brought  back  the  old  aris- 
tocratic government  in  the  cities.  So  that  just  as  during 
the  Napoleonic  era  the  conflict  had  been  between  the 
federalists  and  the  centralists  in  government,  so  now 
there  came  the  conflict  between  the  aristocratic  oli- 
garchy, who  ruled  the  larger  cantons,  and  the  democrats, 
who  wanted  all  to  vote.  The  crisis  occurred  in  1830, 
when  the  revolution  in  France  put  Louis  Phillippe  on 
the  throne.  The  first  to  respond  to  this  in  Switzerland 
was  the  southern  canton,  Ticino,  which  elected  a  radical 
government.  From  there  this  radical  movement  spread 
over  Switzerland  into  the  other  cantons.  The  radical 
cantons  united  to  form  an  alliance  called  the  Seven 
League,  because  seven  cantons  composed  it.  They  were 
Zurich,  Bern,  Lucerne,  Aargau,  Solothurn,  Thurgau  and 
St.  Gall — later  also  Basle-land.  This  league  was  or- 
ganized March,  1832.  Its  organization  forced  the  con- 
servative cantons  also  to  organize  in   November,   1832. 

403 


404 


THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 


In  this,  the  four  Catholic  cantons,  Uri,  Schwyz,  Unter- 
walden  and  Valais,  united  with  the  semi-monarchial 
Neuchatel  and  aristocratic  Basle.  It  was  called  the 
Sarnen  League.  Just  about  this  time  the  farmers  of 
Basle-land  rose  against  the  aristocrats  of  Basle-city  and 
demanded  a  voice  in  the  government.  The  Swiss  diet; 
then  under  the  control  of  the  radicals,  sent  an  army 
against  Basle  and  ordered  the  division  of  the  canton  into 
Basle-city  and  Basle-land.  The  Sarnen  League  was  dis- 
solved and  political  radicalism  was  in  control  of  the  Con- 
federacy. Switzerland  has  had  the  reputation  for  its 
liberty,  but  that  is  a  misnomer,  for  it  never  had  universal 
suffrage  till  about  1830.  With  the  exception  of  some  of 
the  small  country  cantons,  which  were  republican,  its  city 
cantons  had  been  governed  by  oligarchies  and  the  rest  of 
the  people  had  no  voice  in  the  government.  And  if 
Switzerland  did  not  have  civil  liberty  till  about  1830, 
still  less  did  it  have  religious  liberty  as  we  shall  see. 
For  there  were  persecutions  by  Protestant  governments 
for  religion's  sake  in  Switzerland  even  in  the  nineteenth 
century.  Switzerland  has  not  been  the  land  of  the  free 
as  has  been  Holland  or  as  is  the  United  States,  where 
both  civil  and  religious  liberty  have  long  been  granted. 

Section  2 

The  Controversy  Between  Catholics  and 
Protestants 

The  next  conflict  was  between  Catholics  and  Pro- 
testants. This  was  caused  by  the  return  of  the  Jesuits. 
The  Jesuits  had  been  expelled  in  1773,  but  had  been  al- 
lowed to  return  after  1814.  The  controversy  began  in 
Aargau  in  1840,  where  the  radicals  had  gained  control. 
They  ordered  the  suppression  of  the  monasteries  in  that 
canton.  This  aroused  the  Catholics  and  2,000  peasants 
took  up  arms,  but  were  defeated  at  Vilmergen.     Lucerne 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  405 

then  introduced  the  Jesuits.  As  Lucerne  was  then  one 
of  the  capitals  of  Switzerland,  this  caused  great  alarm 
among  the  Protestants  and  at  the  Diet  of  1841  the  dele- 
gates from  Aargau  made  a  motion  for  the  expulsion  of 
the  Jesuits  and  the  suppression  of  monasteries  and  nun- 
neries. This  alarmed  Lucerne  and  she  organized  in 
December,  1845,  the  Sonderbund  of  the  seven  Catholic 
cantons,  Lucerne,  Zug,  Uri,  Schwyz,  Unterwalden,  Frei- 
burg and  Valais.  This  led  the  other  cantons  to  form 
an  alliance  into  which  Zurich,  Bern,  Glarus,  Schaff- 
hausen,  Grisons,  Aargau,  Thurgau,  Ticino,  Solothurn 
Basle-land  and  Appenzell  (exterior)  entered.  It  is 
to  be  noticed  that  the  Catholic  cantons  of  Ticino  and 
Solothurn  were  against  the  Jesuits  because  their  govern- 
ments were  radical.  On  the  other  hand,  some  Protestant 
cantons  (especially  at  first)  favored  the  Catholics.  But 
the  opponents  of  Jesuitism  could  not  gain  the  majority 
in  the  Swiss  Diet  until  1847,  when  St.  Gall  decided 
against  the  Sonderbund  and  Basle-city  and  Geneva  by 
that  time  aided.  The  diet  then  ordered  the  expulsion  of 
the  Jesuits. 

The  Sonderbund  refused  and  their  deputies  left  the 
Swiss  Diet.  The  rest  of  the  diet  then  ordered  the  sup- 
pression of  the  Sonderbund  and  sent  an  army  of  98,000 
troops,  under  General  Du  Four,  against  it.  The  Son- 
derbund against  this  could  raise  but  75,000.  Freiburg 
capitulated  to  the  troops  of  the  Confederacy  and  General 
Du  Four  gained  the  victory  at  Lucerne,  November  23, 
1847.  Thus  the  Sonderbund  was  dissolved  and  the 
diet  ordered  the  perpetual  banishment  of  the  Jesuits. 
This  was  the  last  conflict  between  Catholicism  and  Pro- 
testantism in  Switzerland.  Since  then,  they  have  dwelt 
together  in  peace,  side  by  side,  the  Swiss  Catholic  be- 
coming somewhat  more  liberalized  by  his  contact  with 
republican  institutions.  When  the  papal  infallibility  was 
promulgated  in  1870,  some  of  the  cantons,  as  Bern,  Aar- 


4o6  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

gau,  Solothurn,  Thurgau  and  Basle,  rejected  the  papal 
infallibility  and  forbade  their  bishops  to  discipline  priests 
for  not  accepting  the  doctrine. 

Section  3 

the  conflict  between  rationalists  and  evangelicals 
in  the  protestant  church 

This  was  the  third  controversy  of  this  period.  Po- 
litical radicalism  went  hand  in  hand  with  religious  ra- 
tionalism. The  calling  of  De  Wette  as  professor  to 
Basle,  of  Strauss  to  Zurich,  and  Zeller  to  Bern,  revealed 
the  strength  of  the  rationalists.  As  a  result,  the  church 
finally  split  into  three  parties,  rationalists,  Evangelicals 
and  mediates.  The  first  organized  a  "Reform  Society" 
in  1866,  which  spread  into  the  different  cantons.  This 
led  the  Evangelicals  to  organize  their  society,  which  was 
called  the  "Swiss  Church  Society,"  organized  at  Olten, 
1 87 1.  This  society  aided  Evangelical  minorities  in  ra- 
tionalistic congregations  to  have  religious  services.  In 
1890  it  joined  the  Presbyterian  and  Reformed  Alliance. 
A  third  society  was  organized  by  the  mediates  (those 
whose  theological  position  was  between  rationalism  and 
orthodoxy),  but  it  existed  only  until  the  death  of  its 
leader  and  president,  Hagenbach.  Each  of  these  had 
a  church  paper.  The  rationalists  had  "The  Church  of 
the  Present"  and  later  the  "Voices  of  the  Time";  the 
Evangelicals,  "The  Future  of  the  Church"  and  later  the 
"Friend  of  the  Church."  The  mediates  had  the  "Church 
Leaves." 

Gradually  the  programme  of  the  rationalists  devel- 
oped itself. 

1.  Their  first  attempt  was  to  set  aside  the  creeds  of 
the  church,  as  the  Second  Helvetic  Confession,  and  to 
make  the  churches  creedless  so  that  there  might  be  room 
enough  in   the  church   for  their  lax  views   of  doctrine. 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  407 

This  movement,  by  the  aid  of  the  secular  authorities, 
succeeded  in  all  the  cantons  and  the  churches  are  non- 
confessional,  although  in  some  of  the  cantons,  as  in  Aar- 
gau,  the  Grisons  and  others,  the  ministers  at  ordination 
promise  to  teach  "according  to  the  fundamentals  of  the 
Evangelical  Reformed  religion." 

2.  Their  second  attack  was  on  the  Apostles  Creed. 
This  they  tried  to  have  eliminated  from  the  public 
worship  of  the  church.  In  almost  all  the  cantons  a 
compromise  has  been  agreed  upon  by  which  ministers 
are  free  to  use  the  Apostles  Creed  or  not,  and  in  some 
cantons,  as  in  Zurich,  a  double  set  of  forms  in  the  liturgy 
has  been  adopted.  The  Evangelicals  use  this  creed  still, 
but  the  rationalists  do  not. 

3.  Their  third  attack  was  on  the  baptism  of  children. 
They  argued  against  its  use  because  the  infant  was  too 
young  to  understand  its  significance :  and  besides  all  the 
significance  of  baptism  was  taken  up  in  confirmation. 
As  a  result  in  most  of  the  cantons,  while  baptism  is 
generally  observed,  yet  the  confirmation  of  the  unbap- 
tized  is  permitted.  Still  some  of  the  cantons,  as  Schaff- 
hausen,  make  it  obligatory. 

Lately  the  friction  between  rationalists,  mediates 
and  Evangelicals  has  been  quieting  down,  each  allowing 
the  other  a  place  in  the  church.  The  rise  of  socialism 
among  many  of  the  clergy  is  causing  a  disregard  of  these 
old  divisions.  This  socialistic  movement  is  being  led  by 
Professor  Ragatz,  of  the  theological  faculty  of  Zurich, 
and  Rev.  Herman  Kutter,  a  pastor  at  Zurich. 

In  connection  with  these  divisions  among  Protestants, 
we  may  also  notice  the  tendency  to  the  separation  of 
church  and  state  in  some  of  the  cantons.  The  French 
cantons  were  more  inclined  to  this  than  the  German  and 
Free  Churches  were  organized  in  the  cantons  of  Geneva, 
Vaud  and  Neuchatel.  This  movement  culminated  in  the 
disestablishment  of  the  National  Church  of  Geneva  in 


4o8  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

1909.  The  German  cantons  were  less  inclined  to  disestab- 
lishment, although  there  were  a  few  independent  Re- 
formed congregations  among  them.  But  finally  Basle  de- 
cided on  disestablishment  in  191 1,  the  first  of  the  German 
cantons  to  take  this  step. 

Section  4 
the  united  religious  movements  oe  the  cantons 

Some  of  the  religious  movements  were  cantonal, 
others  were  general.  We  propose  here  to  speak  of  the 
latter. 

In  1858  the  Swiss  Evangelical  Conference  was 
founded,  consisting  of  two  delegates  from  each  Pro- 
testant canton.  It  led  to  the  adoption  of  Good  Friday 
(which  had  never  been  observed  in  Switzerland  as  a 
church  festival  day).  It  also  led  in  1862  to  a  concordat 
between  the  different  Protestant  cantons  about  the  ex- 
amination of  students  for  the  ministry  by  which  they 
are  examined  by  a  central  board  and  not  by  each  canton. 
All  the  German  cantons,  except  Bern  and  Grisons,  ac- 
cepted this.  Since  1881,  this  conference  has  been  held 
yearly  and  has  led  to  important  results,  as  the  general 
observance  in  Switzerland  of  the  400th  anniversary  of 
Zwingli's  birth  in  1884,  etc. 

Another  union  society  that  has  exerted  considerable 
influence  has  been  the  Swiss  Preachers'  Association.  It 
was  organized  in  1839,  to  be  a  bond  of  union  between 
the  different  cantonal  churches  and  also  to  further  theo- 
logical intercourse.  Its  meetings  were  held  annually, 
when  important  subjects  were  discussed.  But  friction 
finally  developed  between  the  Evangelicals  and  the  ra- 
tionalists, as  when  Fries  at  the  meeting  in  1845,  declared 
against  the  Apostles  Creed,  and  Hirzel  in  i860  attacked 
pietism.  Its  membership  formerly  was  as  high  as  300. 
But  through  these  controversies  it  has  lessened  to  100- 


NINETEENTH  CENTURY  409 

150.     Still  its  meetings  are  important  and  its  discussions 
helpful  and  significant. 

As  a  result  of  this  Swiss  Preachers'  Society,  another 
very  helpful  society  was  organized,  namely,  the  Swiss 
Aid  Society.  At  the  meeting  of  the  Swiss  Preachers'  So- 
ciety in  1840,  Le  Grand,  pastor  at  Freiburg,  who  had 
been  impressed  by  the  great  needs  of  the  Protestants 
scattered  in  Catholic  lands,  led  to  the  organization  of  a 
society  to  aid  them.  The  society  was  organized  (1842) 
at  Basle  and  soon  the  different  Protestant  cantons  had 
auxiliary  societies.  The  annual  collections  of  all  the 
Protestant  cantons  which  have  been  taken  for  this  society, 
usually  on  the  Day  of  Prayer  in  the  fall,  have  netted  a 
large  sum.  This  has  been  used  for  the  building  and 
maintaining  of  Protestant  congregations  in  Catholic  can- 
tons and  Catholic  lands,  as  Austria,  Italy,  Chili  and  even 
Turkey.  In  1872-73  a  crisis  occurred  in  the  society, 
between  the  rationalists  and  the  Evangelicals,  as  the 
latter  did  not  wish  their  money  sent  to  churches,  whose 
pastors  were  rationalistic.  It  was  finally  amicably  ad- 
justed by  allowing  each  cantonal  society  liberty  to  give 
how  and  where  it  pleased.  The  report  of  this  society  for 
191 1,  says  that  $50,000  were  given  by  Switzerland  in 
the  previous  year  and  $11,000  by  other  lands.  The  total 
was  $62,400. 


CHAPTER  II 

Basle 

Section   i 
the  call  of  de  wette* 

Basle,  the  home  of  pietism  and  the  stronghold  of 
orthodoxy,  was,  strange  to  say,  the  first  to  permit  the 
entrance  of  rationalism.  This  occurred  when  De  Wette 
was  called  as  professor  of  theology.  It  was  the  signal 
for  a  new  era.  But  it  came  like  a  thunderclap  to  pietistic 
Basle. 

William  Martin  Lebrecht  De  Wette  was  a  German, 
born  near  Weimar,  January  12,  1780,  and  educated  at 
the  rationalistic  university  of  Jena.  He  became  profes- 
sor at  Heidelberg  and  at  Berlin  (1810-19)  where  the 
pietistic  circles  voted  he  was  not  a  Christian. 

He  was  dismissed  from  Berlin,  in  disgrace,  because 
of  supposed  sympathy  with  Sand,  the  assassin  of  Kotze- 
bue.  He  retired  (1819)  to  Weimar,  where  he  wrote 
"Theodore  the  Doubter"  or  "The  Skeptic's  Conversion" — 
an  autobiography  of  his  religious  crisis.  The  book  was 
looked  upon  with  suspicion  by  the  orthodox,  although  it 
revealed  him  as  returning  from  rationalism  toward 
orthodoxy. 

When  his  election  to  Basle  was  first  spoken  of,  the 
whole  theological  faculty,  with  one  exception,  opposed  it. 
The  "Christianity  Society"  opposed  it.     One  of  the  pas- 

*  See    R.    Stahelin's   "De    Wette   nach    seiner   theolog-Wirk- 

samkeit  und  Bedeutttng." 

410 


BASLE  411 

tors  of  Basle  declared  that  De  Wette's  views  had  left  us 
only  one-third  of  the  New  Testament  and  soon  the  Pro- 
testant Church  would  have  nothing  left.  Many  of  the 
pious  people  of  Basle  looked  upon  him  as  antichrist. 
But  in  spite  of  all  this  opposition,  the  council  elected 
him.  He  went  to  Basle  in  1822.  Instead  of  rousing 
opposition  he  tried  to  overcome  it.  His  first  sermon,  on 
Whitsunday,  1822,  on  "Prove  the  Spirits,"  won  him  many 
friends.  In  this  he  was  aided  by  his  great  moral  earnest- 
ness. He  became  somewhat  more  conservative,  so  that 
while  the  orthodox  called  him  a  rationalist,  the  extreme 
rationalists  called  him  a  pietist  because  he  later  labored 
with  Spittler,  the  leader  of  the  conservatives,  in  the  work 
of  Greek  evangelization.  For  he  had  strong,  practical 
sympathy,  especially  for  missions,  and  once  wrote  a 
pamphlet  about  the  theological  seminary  of  the  German 
Reformed  Church,  at  Carlisle,  Pennsylvania,  so  as  to 
stimulate  interest  in  the  Germans  in  America.  He  was 
ordained  1825,  claiming  to  accept  the  Basle  Confession. 
But  his  principles  were  critical  and  Hegelian.  His 
"Commentary  on  Matthew"  appeared  about  the  same 
time  as  Strauss'  "Life  of  Christ,"  and  was  much  like 
it,  but  differed  from  it  in  its  conclusions.  While 
Strauss  reduced  Christ's  life  to  a  myth,  he  granted 
its  historicity,  though  he  granted  that  some  traditional 
and  mythical  accounts  had  crept  into  it,  especially  the 
supernatural  birth  and  the  ascension.  De  Wette,  by 
his  influence,  toned  up  the  scholarship  of  the  uni- 
versity and  attracted  many  foreign  students.  He  was 
a  man  of  broad-mindedness.  Thus  when  the  Evangeli- 
cals of  Basle  united  in  raising  money  to  support  an  or- 
thodox professor  in  the  university,  De  Wette,  instead  of 
opposing  it,  approved  of  it.  as  he  thought  all  tendencies 
should  be  represented  in  the  university.  His  last  work, 
"The  Essence  of  Christianity,"  revealed  his  progress 
toward  Evangelical  ideas  as  compared  with  his  earlier 


4i2  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

rationalistic  works.  He  died  June  17,  1849,  with  the 
confession,  "I  know  there  is  salvation  in  none  other  than 
in  Christ  and  Him  crucified."  He  was  rationalizing  in 
his  head,  but  Christian  in  his  heart.  Only  a  German  can 
properly  unite  two  such  contradictory  positions.  Philo- 
sophically, his  views  were  based  on  Fries,  who  united 
Jacoby's  philosophy  of  faith  with  Kant's  criticism.  He 
has  been  called  an  aesthetic  theologian,  because  he  regarded 
the  facts  of  revelation  as  symbols, — images  of  certain 
ideas.  He  claimed  that  if  the  dogmatic  envelope  were 
stripped  off,  the  kernel  would  reveal  the  religious  and 
aesthetical  elements  which  had  been  given  birth  to  the 
dogmatic.  Thus  Christ's  death  was  the  picture  of  man 
purified  by  sacrifice,  his  resurrection  was  the  picture  of 
the  victory  of  truth,  his  ascension,  of  his  eternal  glory, 
his  return,  of  the  victory  of  the  church.  But  in  doing 
this,  he  dissolved  theology  into  empty  signs.  His  dog- 
matics were  aesthetic  rationalism,  just  as  Schleiermacher's 
were  emotional  rationalism. 

Section  2 

prof.  charles  rudolph  hagenbach 

The  coming  of  De  Wette  produced  the  break  with  or- 
thodoxy and  the  university  was  gradually  filled  with  pro- 
fessors of  more  liberal  views.  The  most  influential 
among  them  was  Charles  Rudolph  Hagenbach.  He  was 
born  at  Basle,  March  4,  1801.  His  father,  a  medical 
professor  at  the  university,  was  lax  in  his  orthodoxy. 
Influenced  by  him,  his  son  had  many  a  spiritual  conflict, 
but  they  only  drove  him  to  deeper  search  into  truth. 
His  professors  of  theology  at  Basle  were  orthodox  and 
looked  on  German  theology  with  suspicion.  So  he  went 
to  the  University  of  Bonn,  and  later  to  Berlin  (1820-23). 
Under  Schleiermacher  and  Neander,  he  was  introduced 
to  the  mediating  theology,  the   former  leading  him  to 


BASLE  413 

make  the  person  of  Christ  central.  Giessler,  at  Bonn 
and  Neander,  gave  him  his  impulse  to  church  history. 
While  he  was  in  Berlin  (1823)  although  he  had  ex- 
pected to  start  out  in  his  ministry  only  as  a  country 
pastor,  yet  he  received  the  call  to  be  privat-docent  at 
Basle  University,  an  unusual  distinction  for  so  young  a 
man.  At  this,  De  Wette  was  very  glad,  for  he  had  felt 
himself  lonely  at  Basle,  as  the  other  professors  of  the- 
ology, being  orthodox,  would  have  nothing  to  do  with 
him.  Hagenbach's  theology  was  not  so  rationalistic  as 
De  Wette's,  but  he  was  a  congenial  spirit  to  the  latter 
because  he  had  been  trained  in  Germany  and  was  in 
sympathy  with  De  Wette's  scholarly  methods.  After 
teaching  at  Basle  a  year  he  was  made  professor  extra- 
ordinary and  in  1829  professor  ordinary.  In  1827  he 
early  gained  fame  by  the  publication  of  his  "History  of 
the  First  Helvetic  Confession."  This  was  one  of  the 
mildest  of  the  Swiss  creeds  and  is  still  used  at  Basle. 
Its  theological  statements  especially  voiced  Hagenbach's 
mediating  views.  He  began  a  series  of  popular  lectures 
on  the  Reformation  in  the  winter  of  1833,  which  were 
published,  and  also  translated  into  English*  This  series 
of  lectures  grew  into  his  best  work,  "History  of  the  Chris- 
tion  Church,"  which  appeared  in  seven  or  eight  volumes 
(1839-58).  He  had  a  remarkable  faculty  for  popu- 
larizing church  history.  Though  scholarly,  he  was  al- 
ways interesting.  He  also  wrote  an  "Encyclopaedia" 
(1833),  "Homiletics  and  Liturgies"  (1863),  "History  of 
Doctrine"  (1840).  He  was  also  quite  a  poet,  and  two 
volumes  of  his  poetry  were  published  in  1846.  He  was 
also  the  editor  of  the  series  of  volumes  on  the  Reforma- 
tion, entitled  "Fathers  and  Founders  of  the  Reformed 
Church."  published  about  1857.  In  1828  he  received  the 
title   of  doctor   of   divinity,   from   Basle.     He   occupied 

*  By   Hurst,  in   his   "History   of  the    Rationalism   of  the 
Eighteenth  Century." 


4H 


THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 


prominent  positions  in   Basle,   being  a  member  of  the 
council  and  had  great   influence   there.     He  died  June 

7,  1874. 

The  significance  of  Hagenbach  was  that  he  was  the 
leader  of  the  mediating  party  in  the  Swiss  churches. 
When  the  "Church-leaves  (Kirchenblatt)  of  the  Re- 
formed Church  of  Switzerland"  was  founded,  he  be- 
came its  editor  (1841-68).  He  was  of  the  mediating 
theology  of  Schleiermacher,  but  unlike  Schweizer  of 
Zurich,  who  inclined  to  the  left,  he  inclined  to  the  right 
or  the  Evangelicals.  Though  he  favored  De  Wette's 
critical  methods,  he  never  went  to  his  extremes.  When 
the  rationalists  at  Basle,  in  1872,  tried  to  set  aside  the 
Apostles  Creed,  he  took  strong  grounds  against  them. 
He  was  also  very  active  in  the  various  operations  of  the 
church  as  in  the  Swiss  Preachers'  Society,  the  Protestant 
Aid  Society  and  in  the  work  of  the  Bible  and  Missionary 
Society  of  Basle. 

Section  3 

the  later  religious  situation  at  basle 

This  history  divided  itself  into  two  parts,  the  edu- 
cational and  the  ecclesiastical. 

A.  Educational 

This  mainly  concerns  the  university.  As  the  uni- 
versity veered  more  and  more  to  liberal  theology,  the 
Evangelicals  of  Basle,  at  last  alarmed,  raised  sufficient 
funds  to  support  another  professor,  so  that  there  might 
always  be  an  Evangelical  professor  of  theology  there. 
Of  this  chair  John  Tobias  Beck  became  professor  (1836- 
43)  when  he  left  for  Tubingen.  After  him  were  Hoff- 
man, inspector  of  the  Mission  House  of  Basle  (1843-49), 
Auberlen    (1850-64),    Von    der    Goltz    (1865),    Kaftan 


BASLE  415 

(1873-83),  Schnederman  (1883),  Kirn  (1889)  and  Metz- 
gar  (1896),  the  present  incumbent.  Edward  Boehl,  a 
privat-docent,  was  Evangelical,  but  left  for  the  Uni- 
versity of  Vienna.  In  1873,  Conrad  von  Orelli  was 
elected  professor  on  a  new  foundation  by  a  citizen  of 
Basle. 

The  most  prominent  Evangelical  professor  before 
Orelli  was  John  Christopher  Riggenbach.  He  was  born 
October  8,  1818,  at  Basle  and  studied  there  and  later  at 
Berlin  and  Bonn.  He  was  won  to  Hegelian  principles 
by  his  friend  Biederman,  later  the  rationalistic  professor 
of  theology  at  Zurich.  But  at  Berlin  he  was  greatly  im- 
pressed by  the  piety  of  Baron  von  Cottwitz  and  gladly 
came  into  close  friendship  with  Godet,  who  was  Evan- 
gelical. Though  Hegelian  at  first,  he  was  of  too  serious 
a  mind  to  be  satisfied  with  such  a  philosophy.  He  was 
examined  for  ordination  (1842)  at  Basle  with  Bieder- 
man. Both  of  these  young  men  were  looked  upon  by 
the  ministers  of  Basle  with  suspicion  because  of  their 
rationalistic  views.  At  first  Riggenbach  joined  with  the 
rationalists,  as  Fries  and  Biederman,  in  the  publication  of 
their  church  paper,  "The  Church  of  the  Present."  But 
gradually  his  experience  as  a  country  pastor  revealed  to 
him  the  emptiness  of  rationalism.  And  at  the  annual 
meeting  of  the  Swiss  Preachers'  Association,  in  1848,  he 
startled  the  rationalists  by  announcing  himself  as  an 
Evangelical.  Later,  with  Guder  of  Bern,  he  led  in  the 
founding  of  the  Swiss  Church  Society.  In  1850  he  was 
made  professor  of  theology.  At  the  meeting  of  the 
Evangelical  Alliance  at  Geneva,  in  1861,  he  read  a  paper 
on  "The  Present  Rationalism  in  Switzerland,"  which 
proved  a  bombshell  in  the  camp  of  the  rationalists,  and 
was  answered  by  Biederman.  In  1879,  when  the  Evan- 
gelical Alliance  met  at  Basle,  he  was  its  leader.  With 
the  exception  of  Hagenbach,  he  was  the  most  influen- 
tial of  the  professors  at  Basle.     He  was  president  of  the 


416  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

Basle  Missionary  Society  for  many  years.  He  died  Sep- 
tember 5,  1890. 

Another  of  the  professors  who  ought  to  be  mentioned, 
not  because  of  his  Evangelical  position,  for  he  was  a 
mediate  in  theology,  but  because  of  his  masterly  life  of 
Zwingli,  was  Rudolph  Stahelin.  He  studied  at  Basle,  Ber- 
lin and  Heidelberg.  He  returned  to  Basle  as  privat-docent 
(1873),  and  became  extraordinary  professor  (1874),  and 
ordinary  professor  (1875),  as  successor  to  Hagenbach. 
His  life  of  Zwingli  is  the  most  complete  yet  published, 
because,  since  Morikoffer's  and  Christoffel's  biographies 
of  the  great  reformer  were  published,  much  new  ma- 
terial had  appeared  on  Zwingli's  life.  A  pathetic  in- 
terest is  connected  with  it,  in  that,  just  as  he  had  gathered 
his  materials  after  many  years'  research,  he  was  threat- 
ened with  blindness,  and  so  the  work  was  written  slowly 
and  painfully,  by  an  almost  blind  man.  While  speaking 
of  writers  on  the  Reformation,  one  of  the  pastors  of  Basle 
ought  not  to  be  omitted,  Rev.  Ernest  Stahelin,  who  wrote 
one  of  the  best  biographies  of  Calvin  that  has  appeared. 
It  appeared  in  the  series  published  by  Hagenbach,  en- 
titled "The  Fathers  and  Founders  of  the  Reformed 
Church." 

In  1912  there  were  three  Evangelical  professors  of 
theology  in  the  University  of  Basle,  Orelli,  Metzger  and 
Edward  Riggenbach  (who  became  extra  professor  in 
1900).  Prof.  John  Conrad  von  Orelli  was  born  at  Zur- 
ich, January  25,  1846,  studied  at  Zurich,  Lausanne,  Er- 
langen,  Tubingen  and  Leipsic.  He  became  privat-do- 
cent at  Basle,  1871,  and  professor,  1881.  His  writings 
on  the  Old  Testament  have  given  him  great  fame,  and 
many  of  them  have  been  translated  into  English.  He 
has  been  president  of  the  Swiss  Evangelical  Union  for 
many  years,  and  the  great  leader  of  the  Evangelicals  of 
Switzerland.  He  was  also  a  fine  preacher,  the  cathedral 
at   Basle  being  filled  whenever  he  preached.     He  died 


BASLE  417 

November  7,  19 12. 

B.  Ecclesiastical 

While  the  university  was  thus  being  changed  to  liber- 
alism, the  Church  of  Basle  underwent  a  similar  conflict. 
The  pastors  were  at  first  all  Evangelical.  In  185 1  a 
sensation  was  caused  by  the  refusal  of  the  consistory  to 
ordain  Rumpff,  because  of  his  outspoken  rationalism. 
He  appeared  before  the  city  council,  asking  for  ordina- 
tion, but  it  sustained  the  consistory  in  its  action.  Hagen- 
bach,  though  usually  so  mediating  and  irenic,  delivered 
an  address  on  that  occasion,  defending  the  judgment 
given  by  the  theological  faculty  against  Rumpff. 

In  1858  the  rationalists  made  their  first  attempt  in  the 
programme  of  their  efforts,  which  we  have  sketched  in 
the  first  chapter  of  this  book.  Horler,  who,  because  of 
his  outspoken  rationalism,*  had  left  the  ministry  for 
journalism,  made  a  motion  that  the  ordination  oath  to 
the  Basle  confession  be  changed,  so  as  to  allow  room  for 
rationalistic  ministers,  but  it  was  refused  by  the  council, 
December  7,  1859,  by  a  vote  of  72-27.  In  i860,  the  in- 
fluence of  the  great  revival  in  America,  and  the  British 
Isles  in  1857,  began  to  be  felt  at  Basle.  The  Basle  Mis- 
sionary Society  decided  to  hold  extra  religious  services. 
It  happened  that  Hebich,  one  of  their  prominent  though 
eccentric  missionaries  from  India,  was  in  Basle.  His 
preaching  created  a  great  sensation,  two  thousand  being 
present  on  the  third  day.  Complaint  was  made  against 
him  by  the  rationalists  to  the  city  council,  but  the  council 
nevertheless  allowed  him  to  continue  preaching  in  the 
churches  of  Basle,  though  it  was  carried  by  a  small 
majority.  The  rationalists  then  become  aggressive,  and 
Horler  gave  a  course  of  public  lectures.     At  one  of  them, 

*  He  is  said  to  have  believed  neither  in  God  nor  in  im- 
mortality. 

27 


4i8  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

Rev.  Earnest  Stahelin,  then  a  country  pastor,  rose  and 
defended  Evangelical  Christianity,  with  such  power,  that 
he  was  later  called  to  be  one  of  the  pastors  in  the  city, 
and  became  a  leader  of  the  Evangelicals.  In  1861,  the 
Evangelicals  gave  a  course  of  public  lectures  in  which 
Professors  Auberlen  and  Gess  took  part.  In  1867,  the 
rationalists  organized  a  Reform  Society.  A  local  Evan- 
gelical Society  was  also  organized,  and  thus  the  lines 
were  drawn  between  the  parties. 

In  1873  tne  rationalists  made  a  strenuous  effort  to  have 
the  use  of  the  Apostles'  Creed  set  aside,  as  well  as  the 
Basle  Confession,  but  they  were  not  successful ;  though 
later  liberty  was  given,  so  that  in  the  liturgy  the  word 
"confess,"  before  the  Apostles'  Creed,  was  allowed  to  be 
changed  by  them  to  the  word  "hear,"  which  the  ration- 
alistic ministers  who  felt  they  could  not  confess  the 
creed  could  use.  In  1874  the  first  rationalistic  pastor 
was  elected.  It  came  about  in  this  way:  Rev.  J.  J. 
Riggenbach  was  dissatisfied  with  the  new  liturgy,  and 
asked  to  be  allowed  to  use  the  old  baptismal  formula, 
because  he  considered  it  more  Evangelical.  As  he 
was  refused  permission,  he  resigned.  At  once  the 
rationalists  elected  a  pastor,  Altherr,  in  his  place. 
In  1875  the  Evangelicals  were  surprised  at  the  election 
of  a  second  rationalistic  pastor,  Zwingli  Wirth,  at  the 
cathedral.  But  the  Evangelicals  have  always  refused 
to  administer  the  communion  with  the  rationalists. 
The  rationalists  continued  electing  pastors  until,  in  1879, 
each  of  the  four  congregations  in  the  city  had  a  ration- 
alistic pastor.  The  Evangelicals,  to  offset  this  trend  to 
rationalism,  formed  a  local  church  aid  society,  which 
opened  schools  for  the  religious  instruction  of  the  chil- 
dren, and  soon  three-fourths  of  the  children  of  the  city 
were  in  their  schools. 

In   1881  the  rationalists  tried  another  part  of  their 
programme — they  tried  to  have  the  rite  of  baptism  set 


BASLE  419 

aside.  The  Evangelical  pastors  then  drew  up  a  statement 
that  they  would  not  confirm  a  child  that  had  not  been 
baptized.  In  the  controversy,  Professor  Rudolph  Stahe- 
lin,  though  a  mediate,  came  out  against  the  rationalists, 
because  they  had  claimed  that  his  statements  had  sup- 
ported their  views.  In  1886  the  rationalists  gained  con- 
trol of  the  consistory,  but  in  1887  the  Evangelicals  again 
gained  its  control.  In  1895  tne  rationalists  had  a  ma- 
jority in  the  synod.  At  present  the  two  parties  are  about 
equal. 

Thus  the  ecclesiastical  history  of  Basle  has  been  one 
of  conflict  against  the  encroachments  of  rationalism. 
The  latest  phase  of  its  ecclesiastical  history  was  the  vote 
for  the  disestablishment  of  the  church  in  1910.  By  this 
the  state  withdraws  all  support  of  the  church,  except  for 
the  services  of  chaplains  in  hospitals  and  prisons,  and  it 
allows  each  congregation  to  lay  a  tax  on  its  members,  so 
as  to  maintain  the  church.  The  law  went  into  effect 
April  8,  191 1.  Thus  Basle  ranges  herself  as  the  first  of 
the  German  cantons  in  favor  of  the  separation  of  church 
and  state. 

Section  4 

the  basle  missionary  society 

The  founding  of  this  society  has  been  already  de- 
scribed in  a  previous  part  of  this  volume.  We  will  here 
continue  its  history.  At  first  they  sent  their  students  to 
the  mission  fields  of  other  societies,  as  they  had  no  mis- 
sion field  of  their  own.  In  1818  two  of  their  students 
entered  the  service  of  the  Netherlands  Mission  Society. 
But  that  society  kept  them  so  long  at  its  preparatory 
school,  at  Berkel,  in  the  Netherlands,  that  the  students 
became  dissatisfied,  and  a  breach  finally  occurred  between 
that  Society  and  the  Basle  Society,  but  not  till  seven  of 
the  Basle  students  had  gone  out  under  that  society. 


420  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

They  also  sent  out  their  students  under  the  Church 
Missionary  Society  of  England.  Eighty-six  in  all  went 
out  under  that  society.  Many  were  sent  to  the  deadly 
Sierra  Leone,  in  Africa.  Some  of  them  became  promi- 
nent, as  Koelle,  who  gathered  from  the  African  Babel  of 
languages  a  Polyglotta  Africana;  Krapf,  noted  for  his 
geographical  researches,  and  Gobat,  later  Bishop  of  Jeru- 
salem. The  Basle  society  would  have  preferred  sending 
its  students  out  under  the  London  Missionary  Society,  as 
its  views  were  more  in  harmony  with  it,  but  that  society 
had  more  applicants  for  the  mission  field  than  it  could 
accept.  Its  relation  to  the  Church  Mission  Society 
caused  considerable  criticism,  especially  by  Prof.  Tobias 
Beck,  of  Tubingen  (previously  a  professor  at  Basle), 
who  declared  that  it  was  wrong  to  aid  an  Episcopal 
Society.  Their  relation  to  the  Church  Missionary  So- 
ciety compelled  the  enlargement  of  their  course  of  study 
to  four,  then  to  five  years.  The  students  were  also  al- 
lowed to  attend  some  of  the  lectures  in  the  university,  as 
by  Beck  and  Hagenbach.  The  enlargement  of  the  course 
of  studies  finally  led  to  friction  in  the  society.  Spittler 
objected  to  so  much  education  because  he  said  the  artisan 
missionaries  were  the  most  effective,  and  there  was  dan- 
ger of  the  missionary  being  over  educated.  The  mis- 
sionaries of  the  artisan  class,  however,  wrote  back  from 
their  mission  fields,  stating  how  valuable  a  more  com- 
plete education  would  have  been  to  them.  Spittler 
then  left  the  society  and,  as  we  shall  see,  founded  the  St. 
Chrischona  Institution. 

The  Basle  Society,  after  sending  missionaries  through 
the  Church  Missionary  Society  for  many  years,  decided 
to  have  a  field  of  its  own.  Its  first  field  was  in  the  Cau- 
casus, where  many  Germans  and  Swiss  had  settled.  In 
1 82 1  they  sent  out  Zaremba,  formerly  a  Russian  count, 
and  Dittrich.  But  the  Russian  government  forbade  them 
to  make  proselytes  from  the  Greek  Church,  so  all  they 


BASLE  421 

could  do  was  to  act  as  pastors  to  the  German  colonists. 
They,  however,  did  some  work  among  the  Tartars  and 
Armenians.  Then  the  Armenian  hierarchy  complained 
to  the  Russian  authorities,  and  in  1835  the  Czar  ordered 
the  mission  to  cease.  There  were  hardly  any  results  left, 
although  Dittrich  translated  the  gospels,  and  a  congrega- 
tion of  Armenians  joined  the  Lutheran  church. 

The  society  then  turned  to  West  Africa,  where  already 
a  number  of  their  students  had  been  working  under  the 
Church  Missionary  Society.  In  1827  they  sent  five  to 
Liberia,  but  some  sickened  and  some  died,  until  the  last 
one  entered  the  service  of  the  Church  Missionary  Society, 
so  that  by  1832  the  mission  was  ended.  In  1828  they 
began  sending  missionaries  to  the  Gold  Coast,  then  under 
Denmark.  But  their  missionaries  died  until  only  one 
remained,  Riis,  who  returned,  and  work  there  came  to 
an  end,  to  be  revived  in  1843.  In  1850  the  Gold  Coast 
went  over  to  England.  In  1834  a  new  mission  was 
started  on  the  west  coast  of  India,  which  rapidly  grew 
until  now  it  is  one  of  their  most  important  missions.  In 
1847  another  mission  field  was  opened  in  China,  and 
Hong  Kong  became  their  center.  Gutzlaft,  the  fiery 
missionary,  was  prominent  as  their  Chinese  missionary. 
When  the  Germans  became  a  colonizing  nation,  the  so- 
ciety, to  please  its  large  constituency  in  southern  Ger- 
many, founded  a  mission  field  among  the  Cameroons, 
which  has  greatly  prospered. 

Blumhardt,  the  first  inspector,  was  succeeded  in  1839 
by  Hoffman,  a  very  learned  man,  who  also  delivered 
lectures  in  the  university.  But,  after  eleven  years,  he 
was  called  to  the  University  of  Tubingen,  and  later  was 
court-preacher  to  the  King  of  Prussia.  After  him  came 
Josephaus  (1850-79),  then  Scholl  and  now  Oehler.  Many 
of  the  teachers  of  the  Mission  House  became  prominent 
as  professors,  as  Beck,  Gess,  Osterberg  and  others.  The 
building  of  the  Mission  House  has  been  enlarged  until 


422  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

now  it  will  accommodate  about  one  hundred  students. 
From  its  foundation  up  to  1899,  1,500  young  men  have 
entered  it.  Its  statistics  for  191 1  report  392  mission- 
aries, including  wives ;  60,632  communicants,  of  whom 
18,000  are  in  India,  10,500  in  China,  31,500  in  the  Gold 
Coast  and  Cameroons  in  Africa.  It  reports  668  schools, 
37,000  scholars.     Its  receipts  for  the  year  were  $427,000. 

Section  5 
the  other  religious  institutions  of  basle 

Pietism  is  always  practical,  and  the  pietism  of  Basle 
produced  many  religious  activities.  For,  without  pietism 
to  enrich  it  a  church  is  apt  to  become  sterile.  We  have 
already  noted  the  Christianity,  Bible  and  Missionary 
Societies.     It  remains  to  speak  of  several  others. 

1.    The  Pilgrim  Mission  oe  St.  Chrischona 

This  Mission  House,  located  near  Basle,  was  founded 
by  Spittler,  because  he  differed  from  the  management  of 
the  Basle  Missionary  Society,  in  thinking  they  too  highly 
educated  their  missionaries.  He  also  felt  the  need  of  a 
Home  Mission  Institution,  as  the  Basle  Missionary  So- 
ciety was  intended  only  for  foreign  work.  But  he  found 
it  difficult  to  keep  home  and  foreign  missions  separate. 
Already  in  1843  some  Armenians  were  brought  there  to 
be  educated  as  missionaries.  In  1844  America  was 
looked  upon  as  the  special  field  of  this  society,  also  later 
Palestine,  through  Bishop  Gobat,  who  was  made  Bishop  of 
Jerusalem  in  1846.  Missionaries  were  also  sent  to  Abys- 
sinia. In  1854  a  call  came  from  Patagonia,  and  four 
were  sent  there.  This  was  followed  by  the  sending  of 
other  missionaries  to  other  parts  of  South  America. 
From  1856-59  Russia  opened  to  them,  and  ten  were  sent 
there.     In   i860  it  planned  to   aid  the  orphans   of  the 


BASLE 


423 


Druze  massacres  in  Syria.  In  1872  missionaries  were 
sent  to  the  Gallas  in  Africa,  but  they  were  driven  out  by 
King  Menelik  in  1886.  Up  to  1890  there  had  been  400 
students,  of  whom  196  had  gone  to  America,  7  to  Africa 
and  15  to  Asia.  Its  report  of  191 1  says  it  graduated  25 
students  in  1910  and  had  112  students  in  191 1.  Its  an- 
nual income  for  1910  was  $53,000. 

2.    The  Theological  Alumneum 

Ever  since  the  Reformation,  there  had  been  at  Basle 
an  institution  as  a  convict  or  place  of  residence  for  stu- 
dents, without  cost  to  themselves.  This  was  given  up  in 
1835  because  of  the  loss  of  funds  by  the  separation  of 
Basle-land  from  Basle-city.  In  1844  the  Christian  people 
of  Basle  raised  funds,  and  refounded  the  institution. 
Rev.  Mr.  Le  Grande,  formerly  pastor  at  Freiburg,  was 
made  house-father,  or  head  of  the  institution.  He  guided 
it  prosperously  till  1873,  when  Joneli  was  made  house- 
father. The  institution  has  aided  many  students  to  get 
an  education,  especially  at  the  university.  It  supported 
foreign  students,  especially  from  Catholic  lands,  as  Aus- 
tria-Hungary, etc.  At  its  fiftieth  anniversary,  in  1885, 
it  had  had  357  Swiss,  89  Germans,  84  Bohemians,  67 
Hungarians* 

3.     The   Training    School  of   Ministers    (Prediger 
Schule) 

It  was  founded  May  15,  1876,  because  of  the  ration- 
alistic tendency  of  the  university,  and  also  because  of  the 
lack  of  Evangelical  ministers.  Its  founding  led  many  to 
withdraw  their  support  from  the  Alumneum.  Yet  their 
aims  were  different.  The  Alumneum  was  founded  to 
aid  university  students.     This  was  intended  for  those  not 

*  Zurich  also  had  an  Alumneum   (1853-79). 


424 


THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 


taking  a  regular  university  course,  but  who  wanted  to 
enter  the  ministry,  especially  of  the  Free  churches,  or 
some  other  form  of  religious  work.     This  was  possible, 
because  some  countries  did  not  require  a  university  train- 
ing as  a  prerequisite  to  the  ministry.     It  enlarged  its 
curriculum  until  its  course  is  now  four  years,  preceded  by 
a  preparatory  course.     It  also  arranged  with  the  Basle 
ministerium  that  its  students,  by  taking  certain  courses 
at  the  university,  would  be  licensed  by  them.     Rev.  Wil- 
liam Arnold,  formerly  pastor  at  Heiden,  on  Lake  Con- 
stance, has  been  its  head  up  to  1912,  when  licentiate  Otto 
Schmitz,    privat-docent    in    Berlin,    succeeded   him.     In 
addition  to  Arnold,  other  ministers,  as  Preiswerk,  Rig- 
genbach  and  others,  gave  instructions  in  this  institution. 
Many  of  its  graduates  have  gone  as  Home  Missionaries. 
Thus,  in  1881,  Haarbeck  was  sent  to  the  Engadine  dis- 
trict, in  the  canton  of  the  Grisons,  where  rationalism  had 
full  control.     Others  were  sent  to  rationalistic  parts  of 
the  canton  of  Aargau,  and  to  the   Catholic  canton  of 
Ticino,  where  the  building  of  the  St.  Gothard  railway 
was  bringing  many   Protestants,  as  at  Bellinzona.     Its 
graduates  are  scattered  all  over  the  earth,  as  in  Brazil 
and  the  United  States,  but  especially  in  Switzerland  and 
southern  Germany.     In  thirty  years  it  has  had  120  stu- 
dents.    The  institution  has  exerted  a  strong  influence  for 
Evangelical  Christianity  in  Basle  itself.     Its  report  for 
1910  gives  25  students  and  receipts  of  $5,000. 


CHAPTER  III 
Zurich 

Section  i 
the  preparation  eor  the  strauss  controversy 

After  the  time  of  Lavater  and  Hess,  there  came  a 
reaction,  although  for  a  time  the  Evangelical  influence 
was  in  the  ascendent.  Hess'  successor  as  antistes  was 
George  Gessner  (1828-37),  a  very  earnest,  aggressive 
Evangelical.  He,  with  a  few  friends,  founded  the  Mis- 
sionary Society  of  Zurich,  which  later  sent  Dittrich  as 
missionary  to  the  Caucasus.  After  the  death  of  Lavater, 
whose  daughter  he  married,  the  pious  of  Zurich  gathered 
around  him,  and  he  held  prayer  meetings  on  Monday 
evenings.  He  was  pastor  of  the  Fraumunster  Church, 
Zurich,  and  professor  of  practical  theology.  But  after 
his  election  as  antistes,  there  came  a  political  re- 
action, as  the  radicals  gained  control.  This  aided  the 
rationalists.  That  the  old  spirit  of  Evangelicalism  did 
not  die  out  in  this  reaction  was  mainly  due  to  him.  He 
resigned  1837  and  was  succeeded  as  antistes  by  J.  J. 
Fiissli,  who  was  also  a  leader  of  the  Evangelicals.  Gess- 
ner died  1843. 

During  this  period  there  was  a  rising  tide  of  ration- 
alism. This  was  aided  by  the  political  reaction  and  by 
the  teaching  of  the  leading  professor  of  theology,  John 
Schulthess.  Prof.  John  Schulthess  was  a  fit  successor 
of  Prof.  J.  J.  Zimmermann,  of  the  previous  century.  He 
represented  the  cold  rationalism  of  Paulus,  and  denied  all 
that  was  supernatural.     He  was  born  September  28,  1768, 

425 


426  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

and  educated  at  Zurich.  He  became  professor  of  He- 
brew (1787)  and  of  theology  (1816).  He  revealed 
his  rabid  rationalism  in  1815,  by  attacking  the  Tract  So- 
ciety of  Basle,  and  in  1822  in  his  work  "Rationalism 
and  Supernaturalism."  In  1818  he  published  "The  Evan- 
gelical Doctrine  of  Free  Election,"  denying  that  Paul  ever 
taught  election.  He  seemed  to  use  every  opportunity  to 
attack  the  Evangelicals,  even  the  Reformation  festival, 
in  1819,  when  he  attacked  missions.  He,  however,  did 
an  excellent  thing  in  publishing  a  new  edition  of  the 
work  of  Zwingli  in  1828,  which  had  not  been  published 
since  1588.  He  posed  as  the  exponent  of  what  he  called 
the  true  Zwinglianism — that  is,  that  Zwingli  was  not  an 
Evangelical,  but  a  radical  in  his  day,  because  he  over- 
turned Catholic  rule  and  dogma.  This  view  was  laid 
hold  of  with  avidity  by  the  strict  Lutherans  of  Germany, 
so  as  to  discredit  the  Reformed  by  making  it  appear  that 
the  latter  were  rationalizing.  But  though  a  rationalist, 
Schulthess  was  a  stimulating  teacher.  And  when  on 
April  29,  1833,  Zurich  changed  its  old  theological  school, 
the  Carolinum,  into  a  university,  he  was  carried  over  into 
it  as  professor.  He  died  November  10,  1836,  just  before 
the  Strauss  episode. 

Section  2 

the  call  of  strauss 

The  growth  of  rationalism  culminated  in  1839  in  the 
call  of  Prof.  David  Frederick  Strauss,  the  leader  of 
Hegelianism,  as  professor  of  theology  at  Zuhich.  The 
programme  of  the  rationalists  was  to  gain  control,  one 
by  one,  of  the  educational  institutions.  They  already 
had  control  of  the  Normal  School,  at  Kiissnacht,  where 
Scherr,  once  a  Catholic,  but  now  a  blunt,  outspoken  ra- 
tionalist, was  the  head.  They  determined  also  to  gain 
control  of  the  university.     Their  plan  was  to  make  Zu- 


ZURICH 


427 


rich  the  starting  point  of  a  new  reformation,  such  as  had 
occurred  in  Zwingli's  time,  only  a  reformation  into  ration- 
alism instead  of  into  Evangelicalism,  as  in  the  Reforma- 
tion. 

On  January  26,  1839,  the  educational  committee,  who 
had  charge  of  the  university,  elected  Strauss  as  professor 
of  theology.  The  vote  was  at  first  a  tie,  but  Hirzel,  the 
president,  cast  the  deciding  vote  in  favor  of  Strauss. 
His  election  caused  a  tremendous  sensation.  The  whole 
theological  faculty,  with  the  exception  of  Hitzig,  opposed 
it  as  did  the  consistory  of  Zurich.  Even  the  Catholics 
protested,  for  all  felt  that  a  great  crisis  was  on  between 
infidelity  and  Christianity.  So  great  was  the  feeling, 
that  it  needed  only  a  spark  to  light  a  conflagration.  The 
Evangelicals  then  proceeded  to  contest  the  election  in 
the  great  council,  to  which  the  educational  council  had 
to  report.  This  council  met  January  31,  and  Fiissli 
made  a  motion  that,  as  the  election  of  a  theological  pro- 
fessor was  of  the  greatest  importance  to  the  church,  the 
consistory  should  have  a  voice  in  the  election.  After  a 
discussion  of  eleven  hours,  the  motion  was  lost  by  a  vote 
of  98  to  49.     Strauss'  election  was  then  confirmed. 

But  hardly  had  two  weeks  elapsed  before  a  meeting 
was  held  at  Wadenswyl,  February  13,  at  which  twenty- 
nine  congregations  were  represented.  This  meeting  or- 
ganized a  Faith  Committee,  with  its  center  at  Wadenswyl, 
and  of  which  Hurlimann-Landis,  a  manufacturer  of 
Richterswyl,  and  Dr.  Rahn-Escher  were  the  leaders. 
They  arranged  for  the  organization  of  auxiliaries  in  each 
congregation.  These  were  each  to  send  two  delegates  to 
a  central  committee  to  meet  at  Zurich,  February  28.  This 
central  committee  met  and  presented  an  address  to  the 
Zurich  council  against  Strauss.  On  the  following  day 
they  sent  a  petition  to  the  different  congregations  to  be 
acted  on  by  them.  It  said,  "Our  government  aims  to 
destroy  religion,  our  future  pastors  will  be  educated  by 


428  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

an  unbeliever.  Alas  for  our  children.  They  will  fall 
into  a  new  heathenism."  Quite  a  controversy  of  pam- 
phlets then  took  place,  led  by  Prof.  Orelli  for  Strauss,  and 
by  Nageli  against  his  coming. 

Hans  George  Nageli  deserves  special  mention.  He 
was  one  of  the  prominent  musicians  of  the  Reformed 
Church.  He  was  born  at  Wetzikon,  Canton  Zurich,  May 
27>  l77Z-  When  only  a  boy  he  was  the  leader  of  a 
choir  in  the  village  where  he  was  reared.  He  went  to 
Zurich,  where  he  founded  the  first  loan  music  store  in 
1791,  and  the  first  male  chorus  in  1810.  His  great  work 
was  the  revival  of  chorus  singing.  Through  his  efforts 
singing  societies  were  started  everywhere  in  Switzer- 
land, so  that  by  1873  there  were  287  societies  with  over 
ten  thousand  members.  He  was  also  a  musical  composer 
of  note.  Two  of  his  tunes  have  gotten  into  our  English 
hymbooks,  and  are  favorites,  Dennis  and  Naomi.  In 
1833  the  University  of  Bonn  gave  him  the  degree  of  doc- 
tor of  philosophy.  He  was  also  a  deeply  religious  man, 
and  though  a  layman  boldly  attacked  the  rationalistic 
professors.  When  Schulthess  attacked  the  Tract  So- 
ciety, he  replied  in  "The  Word  of  a  Layman"  and  "Sum- 
mary of  the  Confession  of  Faith  of  an  Orthodox." 
When  Strauss  was  called  he  published  "Words  of  the 
Laity  Against  Strauss'  Coming."  He  died  December  26, 
1836,  just  as  the  church  bells  rang  for  worship,  and  was 
buried  on  the  last  evening  of  the  year. 

The  vote  of  the  congregations  on  Strauss  was  held 
on  Sunday,  March  10,  1839.  The  vote  in  156  con- 
gregations was  39,225  against  his  coming  to  1,048.  This 
meant  that  four-fifths  of  the  voting  population  voted 
against  Strauss'  coming.  From  the  vote  it  was  evident 
that  it  would  not  be  wise  for  Strauss  to  come.  So  the 
government  finally  pensioned  Strauss  on  1,000  francs  a 
year,  which  he  accepted  until  his  death.  Thus  the  coming 
of   Strauss  was  averted.     It  would  have  been   a  most 


ZURICH  429 

lamentable  thing  in  the  history  of  the  Church  of  Zurich 
if  one  of  his  successors  as  a  teacher  would  have  been  the 
arch-heretic  Strauss,  the  greatest  foe  of  Evangelical 
Christianity  of  his  time. 

But  though  the  Strauss  episode  was  now  closed,  the 
confidence  of  the  people  was  not  regained.  The  Evan- 
gelical Society  sent  a  petition  to  the  council  asking  that 
a  teacher  elected  by  the  ministers  might  be  placed  in  the 
Normal  School,  and  also  in  the  cantonal  school.  But 
these  and  other  guarantees,  were  not  granted  to  the  Evan- 
gelicals. On  the  other  hand,  the  rationalistic  majority 
in  the  council,  embittered  by  their  defeat  over  Strauss, 
began  talking  of  more  rationalistic  reforms  in  the  school 
laws,  and  also  of  issuing  a  rationalistic  catechism.  Some 
of  them  even  boasted  that  in  ten  years  the  churches  would 
be  outlived  by  the  schools,  and  the  parsonages  occupied 
by  the  schoolmasters.  This  friction  was  aided  by  in- 
flammatory articles  in  the  newspapers.  It  was  evident 
that  a  new  crisis  was  approaching. 

So  the  Committee  of  Faith  issued  a  call  for  its  con- 
gregational auxiliaries  to  hold  a  great  public  meeting  at 
Kloten,  in  August.  The  authorities  at  Zurich,  alarmed 
at  this  meeting,  forbade  it.  The  Faith  Committee  pub- 
lished this  refusal  of  the  authorities,  and  added:  "Be 
brave  and  strong.  The  Lord  will  bring  victory  to  your 
noble  cause."  For  this  the  authorities,  by  the  end  of 
August,  put  Hurliman-Landis  and  Rahn-Escher  under 
arrest.  This  high-handed  proceeding  roused  a  storm  of 
sentiment  in  their  favor.  As  a  result,  the  meeting  at 
Kloten  (September  2)  was  a  very  large  one.*  In  spite 
of  unfavorable  weather  between  10,000  and  15,000  as- 
sembled there.  It  was  not  a  gathering  of  noisy  young 
men,  but  of  grave  heads  of  families,  and  of  honored 
citizens,   who  came   singing  hymns.     The   little   church 

*  Kloten  is  located  about  eight  miles  north  of  Zurich  and 
was  a  central  point  for  the  canton. 


430  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

could  not  hold  all  who  came,  so  the  rest  gathered  outside 
of  the  church.  The  Faith  Committee  held  its  sessions  in 
the  church.  Their  actions,  after  being  ratified  by  those 
in  the  church,  were  submitted  to  those  outside  for  their 
approval.  The  assembly  adopted  a  petition  to  the  coun- 
cil, asking  for  guarantees  of  Evangelical  education,  the 
recall  of  its  acts  against  the  meetings  of  the  Faith  Com- 
mittee, and  also  the  recall  of  the  troops  that  had  been 
quietly  gathered  at  Zurich  by  the  council  for  its  de- 
fence. The  conference  appointed  22  delegates  to  go 
to  Zurich  to  lay  these  matters  before  the  council.  As 
the  crowds  went  homeward,  a  rumor  spread  abroad  that 
their  22  deputies  had  been  arrested.  Fortunately,  it 
proved  to  be  not  true,  or  there  would  have  been  a  high- 
handed catastrophe,  for  the  crowd  at  the  meeting  was  in 
no  humor  to  brook  any  insult.  Meanwhile  the  council  at 
Zurich  found  that  it  could  not  depend  on  the  troops  it 
had  called  to  Zurich,  for  already  there  had  been  a  mutiny 
in  the  barracks.  The  council  postponed  its  reply  to  the 
Kloten  petition,  asking  that  the  people  should  appear 
before  the  next  meeting  of  the  council,  but  should  come 
unarmed.  Meanwhile  they  continued  assembling  troops 
at  Zurich,  ostensibly  for  the  military  troubles  in  the 
canton  of  Valais.  This  led  to  a  rumor  that  the  council 
had  decided  to  call  on  troops  from  the  other  cantons  to 
aid  them  against  the  popular  will  of  the  people. 

For  there  was  a  political  element  that  entered  into 
this  religious  controversy.  Zurich  belonged  to  the  Seven- 
Alliance,  made  up  of  the  radical  cantons  of  Switzerland. 
Of  this  alliance,  Zurich  was  the  mainstay.  The  other 
radical  cantons  were  determined  to  keep  the  radicals  of 
Zurich  in  power,  even  if  it  was  necessary  to  send  troops 
from  the  other  cantons.  That  this  rumor  of  foreign 
troops  contained  an  element  of  truth  in  it,  is  shown  by 
the  fact  that  the  arsenal  at  Bern,  on  learning  about  the 
situation  at  Zurich,  worked  the  whole  night  during  Sep- 


ZURICH 


431 


tember  4-5.  This  rumor  about  the  introduction  of  for- 
eign troops  by  the  council  greatly  incensed  the  Zurich 
people.  Meanwhile,  the  Zurich  authorities  did  nothing, 
only  postponed  the  date  of  the  meeting  when  the  people 
were  to  appear  before  the  council  from  September  6  to 
September  9.  They  did  so  in  order  that  they  might  gain 
time  to  gather  soldiers,  cadets  and  the  pupils  of  Scherr's 
Normal  School  at  Zurich,  to  defend  them. 

Matters  were  in  such  a  strained  condition,  that  the 
slightest  event  might  produce  an  explosion.  Then  a 
rumor  that  30,000  troops  were  expected  from  the  other 
cantons  spread  abroad.  On  the  night  of  September  5, 
Rahn-Escher  issued  a  bulletin  that  foreign  troops  were 
expected,  and  asked  that  all  should  be  prepared  in  case 
the  bells  were  rung.  At  7  P.  M.  on  September  5,  the 
alarm-bell  of  the  church  at  Pfaffikon,  north  of  Zurich, 
began  ringing.  This  started  the  movement.  The  alarm- 
bells  then  began  to  ring  in  the  other  churches.  The  men 
gathered  and  marched  toward  Zurich,  and  by  the  time 
they  arrived  there,  in  the  early  morning,  their  number 
had  risen  to  about  5,000.  They  were  led  by  Rev. 
Bernard  Hirzel,  pastor  at  Pfaffikon,  and  president  of 
the  local  auxiliary  there.*  They  came  singing  the  hymns 
of  the  faith  of  their  fathers,  back  to  Zwingli,  "This  is 
the  day  the  Lord  hath  wrought,"  "God  is  my  song," 
etc. 

Many  of  them  were  armed  with  guns  and  scythes. 
At  the  top  of  Winterthur  street  they  were  met  by  two 
delegates  of  the  council,  together  with  Rahn-Escher. 
They  made  known  their  demands  on  the  council  which 
were  the  same  as  those  of  the  Kloten  conference.  Rut 
they  added  two  more  demands — they  now  wanted  a  guar- 
antee that  no  foreign  troops  would  enter  the  canton,  and 
that  the  membership  of  Zurich  in  the  Seven-Alliance  be 

*  He  was  a  learned  man,  a  fine  Oriental  scholar,  having 
been  once  privat-docent  at  the  University  of  Berlin. 


432  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

given  up.  They  then  waited  there  from  early  dawn  until 
nine  o'clock.  Meanwhile,  those  of  the  members  of  the 
council  who  were  in  Zurich,  met  at  8  A.  M.,  in  the  Post 
Office  building.!  The  council  was  not  able  at  first  to 
come  to  a  decision,  and  were  in  debate  when  they  heard 
of  the  approach  of  the  citizens.  For  the  latter,  weary 
with  waiting,  came  from  Winterthur  street  in  two  col- 
umns. The  first  consisted  of  armed  men,  and  was  led 
by  Hirzel.  It  marched  over  the  bridge  over  the  Limmat 
river  at  the  city  hall.t  They  then  marched  through  the 
narrow  Stork  street,  to  the  Fraumunster-place.  The 
other  party,  led  by  Rahn-Escher,  marched  over  the  bridge 
over  the  Limmat  at  the  Water  Church,  to  the  same  place. 
In  the  Fraumunster-place  there  was  stationed  a  squad  of 
cavalry,  under  Major  Uebel.  As  these  two  divisions 
came  up  Uebel  called,  "Halt."  Hirzel  replied,  "Peace." 
"Yes,"  said  the  major."  "Peace,  but  the  Fraumunster- 
place  must  be  cleared  of  people."  In  the  excitement, 
just  at  that  moment,  a  gun  was  fired,  and  the  horse  under 
the  dragoon,  who  was  rushing  upon  Hirzel,  fell.  The 
soldiers  began  shooting,  but  most  of  the  cavalry  refused 
to  fire  on  the  crowd,  because  they  were  their  fellow- 
citizens.  In  all  25-35  persons  were  injured,  of  whom 
thirteen  were  killed.  The  shooting  ended  in  a  general 
flight. 

Just  before  the  shooting  began,  the  council  had  pre- 
pared a  proclamation  aimed  at  quieting  the  people,  and 
Dr.  Hegetschwyler,  a  very  popular  member  of  the  coun- 
cil, and  one  of  the  members  of  the  council  who  belonged 
to  the  Evangelical  minority  and  favored  the  Faith  Com- 
mittee, stepped  to  the  balcony  of  the  post-office  to  read 

t  This  building  was  then  located  at  the  southeastern  cor- 
ner of  the  Parade-place,  where  there  is  now  a  store  of  Swiss 
curios.  It  was  chosen  because  it  was  near  the  arsenal  which 
was  then  on  the  north  side  of  the  Parade-place. 

$  It  is  now  used  as  the  market  bridge. 


Antistes  George  Finsler 


Rev.  Caesar  Malan 


Rev.  John  Casper    Lavater 


PROMINENT     MINISTERS 


ZURICH  433 

the  proclamation,  when  a  shot  laid  him  low  just  as  he 
had  ordered  the  soldiers  to  cease  firing.  The  result  of 
his  shooting  was  that  the  council  broke  up.  Some  of 
the  leaders  took  safety  in  flight,  and  went  to  Baden.  The 
country  people,  who  still  kept  coming  in,  found  there  was 
no  enemy  to  oppose  them,  as  the  council  had  broken  up, 
and  the  radical  leaders  had  fled.  The  city  troops  then 
took  possession  of  the  arsenal  instead  of  the  troops  of 
the  council.  This  helped  to  quiet  the  people.  So  the  few 
members  of  the  council  who  remained  (sixty  of  the  radi- 
cal members  were  absent)  joined  with  the  leaders  of 
the  people  to  organize  a  provisional  government  in  the 
arsenal.  The  central  Committee  of  Faith  issued  a 
bulletin,  stating  that  they  had  gained  the  victory.  This 
quieted  the  people  and  they  began  departing  to  their 
homes.  The  provisional  government  ordered  a  new  elec- 
tion for  council  on  September  16-17. 

Such  was  the  famous  Zurich-putsch,*  as  it  has  been 
called,  of  September  6,  1839.  It  has  been  called  a  riot, 
but  it  was  not  really  so,  for  it  was  the  uprising  of  the 
better  class  of  people  against  the  tyrannical  combination 
of  the  radicals.  In  the  election  that  followed  the  radicals 
and  the  rationalists  were  completely  defeated.  The  new 
council  arranged  for  a  proper  religious  instruction  in  the 
schools.  The  Normal  School  at  Kussnacht  underwent 
a  complete  transformation,  as  Scherr  was  dismissed  Oc- 
tober 23,  1839.  The  council  also  withdrew  Zurich  from 
its  alliance  of  the  seven  cantons.  Instead  of  Strauss  they 
called  one  of  the  most  prominent  of  Strauss'  opponents, 
Prof.  J.  P.  Lange,  author  of  a  life  of  Christ,  written  as  a 
reply  to  Strauss.  He  taught  at  Zurich  (1841-54).! 
He  was  reinforced  by  Ebrard    (1844-47),  whose  tren- 

*  An  interesting  account  of  this  movement  by  an  eye- 
witness is  published  in  the  Zurcher  Taschenbuch,  1910. 

t  He  also  wrote  his  "Dogmatics"  and  his  excellent  work 

on    Hymns  while   at   Zurich. 

28 


434  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

chant  apologetics  proved  a  great  source  of  strength  to 
orthodoxy.  He  later  wrote  his  monumental  work,  "His- 
tory of  the  Lord's  Supper,"  there.  In  it  he  defended 
Zwingli  against  the  charge  of  holding  merely  to  the 
memorial  view  of  the  Lord's  Supper.  But  his  severe 
polemics  against  rationalism  strained  his  relation  to  the 
school  authorities,  and  he  resigned  in  1847. 

Thus  rationalism  was  overthrown  by  a  popular  revo- 
lution. The  people  could  not  permit  a  man  who  denied 
the  divinity  of  Christ  to  teach  divinity  in  their  theological 
school.  The  reaction  was  so  great  that  it  nearly  carried 
down  with  it  the  new  university.  "Better  no  teachers 
than  such  teachers,"  was  the  motto  of  the  extremists. 

Section  3 
the  biederman  controversy 

The  conservative  party  had  the  control  of  the  canton 
for  three  or  four  years,  and  then  the  radicals  came  again 
into  power.  In  1849  the  radical  council  did  not  re-elect 
Fussli  as  antistes.  This  was  their  revenge  for  his  mo- 
tion in  the  council,  when  Strauss  was  elected,  that  the 
consistory  should  have  a  voice  in  the  election  of  a  pro- 
fessor of  theology.  His  successor  as  antistes  was  Henry 
Jacob  Brunner  (1850-66).  After  him  George  Finsler, 
the  last  antistes  to  be  elected,  and  one  of  the  best  writers 
en  the  church  history  of  Zurich.  He  prepared  a  number 
of  biographies,  and  also  wrote  on  Zurich  at  the  end  of 
the  eighteenth  century,  and  the  theological  development 
of  German  Switzerland  in  the  nineteenth  century.  The 
rationalists  not  merely  set  Fussli  aside  as  antistes,  but 
at  his  death  captured  his  church  at  Neumunster,  Zurich. 

In  1850  came  the  controversy  about  Biederman.  The 
rationalists  had  failed  in  the  election  of  Strauss ;  they  at 
last  succeeded  in  the  election  of  Biederman.  He  was 
born  near  Zurich,  March  2,  1819.     His  father,  fearing 


ZURICH 


435 


the  rationalists  at  Zurich  would  influence  him,  educated 
him  at  Basle.     But  Biederman  was  by  nature  a  liberal  in 
theology.    He  greatly  enjoyed  De  Wette's  clear  scientific 
method,  although  he  did  not  accept  his  theology.     The 
first  edition  of  Strauss'  Life  of  Christ  woke  him  up,  and 
he  greatly   rejoiced   at   Strauss'   call   to   Zurich.     After 
studying  at  Berlin,  whither  he  went  to  study  Hegelian- 
ism,  he  was  ordained  at  Basle,  1841.     He  and  Riggen- 
bach  would  have  been  rejected  by  the   examiners   for 
their  rationalistic  views  if  De  Wette  and  Hagenbach  had 
not  spoken  in  their  favor.     He  became  pastor  at  Mon- 
chenstein,  near  Basle,  in  1843.     There  he  published  his 
epoch-making   book,    "The    Free   Theology,   or    Philos- 
ophy and  Christianity  in  Strife  and  Peace,"  1844.     He 
aimed  to  do  what  Schleiermacher  had  done  in  his  famous 
addresses,  to  mediate,  only  he  tried  to  mediate  between 
Hegelianism  and  positive   Christianity.     But  he  was   a 
pantheist,  though,  while  Strauss  was  destructive,  he  tried 
to  be  constructive.     In  1845  ne>  with  Fries,  founded  the 
rationalistic  church  paper,  "The  Church  of  the  Present," 
whose  publication  continued  till  1850.     Ebrard  severely 
attacked  him  in  his  paper,  "The  Future  of  the  Church," 
especially  on  the  Five  Points  of  Hegelianism.     Romang, 
of  Bern,  one  of  the  strongest  philosophical  minds  of  his 
day,   in    Switzerland,   also   attacked   him,    in   his   work, 
"The  Young  Hegelian  View  of  the  World,"  1849.     B°th 
Ebrard  and  Romang  charge  Biederman  with  pantheism. 
Biederman    was    called    to    Zurich    as    professor    of 
theology,  in  1850,  because  of  his  ability  and  leadership. 
The  Evangelicals  bitterly  opposed    his  election,  but  in 
vain.     The  election  was  the  more  severe  on  them  because 
Biederman  was  called  to  take  the  place  of  Ebrard,  the 
outspoken  defender  of  the  Evangelicals.     Prof.    Lange 
protested  against  his  election  because  his  book  took  away 
the    fundamentals   of   religion.     The    Evangelicals,   not 
being  able  to  prevent  his  election  as  professor,  then  tried 


436  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

to  prevent  his  reception  into  the  Zurich  synod,  because 
of  his  pantheistic  views.  But  he  was  finally  elected  a 
member.  His  election  led  to  the  organization  of  the 
rationalists  all  over  Switzerland,  and  the  founding  of 
the  new  rationalistic  paper,  "The  Voices  of  the  Times." 
Biederman  was  later  attacked  (1858)  in  the  synod,  for 
his  denial  of  the  authority  of  the  Bible,  and  the  resurrec- 
tion of  Christ,  while  teaching  in  the  upper  gymnasium 
at  Zurich,  but  the  synod  permitted  him  to  continue 
teaching.  He  was  a  famous  Alpine  climber,  and  a  warm 
friend  of  the  gymnastic  societies  of  Switzerland  (turn- 
verein).     He  died  January  25,  1885 

Biederman's  greatest  work  was  his  "Dogmatics," 
published  1869.  He  belonged  to  the  Neo-Hegelians, 
who  tried  to  be  more  conservative  and  constructive  than 
the  Hegelians,  and  to  emphasize  more  the  historical  than 
the  merely  ideal.  His  is  one  of  the  clearest  and  most 
scientific  of  the  rationalistic  dogmatics.  Under  the  shel- 
ter of  Hegel  and  Schleiermacher,  he  emancipates  himself 
from  all  supernaturalism.  He  relegates  to  the  category 
of  the  figurative,  all  such  ideas  as  the  personality  of  God, 
the  immortality  of  the  soul  and  the  permanence  of  the 
individual.  In  his  emphasis  on  immanence,  he  became 
pantheistic.  Christ  is  the  son  of  God,  not  by  nature,  but 
because  the  idea  of  sonship  came  to  him  with  greater 
force  and  freshness,  than  to  other  men. 

With  Biederman  stood  Rev.  Henry  Lang,  as  the 
leader  of  rationalism  at  Zurich.  A  German  by  birth,  he 
was  compelled  to  leave  Germany  (1848),  because  he 
favored  a  republic  there.  He  was  at  first  pastor  in  St. 
Gall,  then  at  Meilen  (1863),  and  later  of  St.  Peter's 
Church,  Zurich  (1871).  He  published,  in  1859,  a  ration- 
alistic "Attempt  at  a  Reformed  Dogmatics,"  and  was  edi- 
tor of  the  rationalistic  paper,  "Voices  of  the  Times."  If 
Biederman  was  the  philosopher  of  rationalism,  Lang  was 
its  popular  orator.     He  was  attacked  by  the  "Protestant 


ZURICH  437 

Kirchenzeitung,"  of  Germany,  for  negativing  the  person- 
ality of  God  and  prayer. 

Another  important  professor  of  theology,  who  de- 
serves mention,  was  Alexander  Schweitzer.  While  Bied- 
erman  approached  rationalism  from  the  standpoint  of 
Strauss,  Schweitzer  approached  it  from  the  standpoint  of 
Schleiermacher.  Born  March  14,  1808,  he  was  a  descend- 
ant of  the  famous  Zurich  family  of  Suicer,  of  whom  we 
have  already  mentioned  two,  Prof.  J.  C.  Suicer  and  Prof. 
J.  H.  Suicer,  his  son.  Through  Prof.  Schulthess,  he  was 
introduced  to  rationalism  at  Zurich,  yet  at  the  university 
of  Berlin,  he  became  a  follower  of  Schleiermacher  He 
wrote  against  Strauss,  saying  that  his  fundamental  point, 
that  the  idea  is  realized  in  the  species,  and  not  in  the 
individual,  did  not  hold  true  of  religion,  but  that  new 
epochs  were  due  to  the  impulse  of  individuals.*  He 
became  professor  of  practical  theology  at  Zurich,  1834, 
and  later  the  successor  of  Biederman,  in  Dogmatics. 
He  opposed  the  coming  of  Strauss  to  Zurich,  but  finally 
went  from  Schleiermacher's  mediating  position,  over  into 
the  camp  of  the  rationalists,  because  he  claimed  that 
under  Ebrard  orthodoxy  had  degenerated  into  pietism. 
It  is  interesting  to  see  how  Biederman,  a  Hegelian,  in- 
clining to  the  right,  and  Schweitzer,  a  follower  of  Schlei- 
ermacher, inclining  to  the  left,  finally  at  last  came  close 
together  in  rationalism.  He  made  very  important  con- 
tributions to  the  history  of  the  Reformed  Church  in  his 
"Doctrines  of  the  Faith  of  the  Evangelical  Reformed 
Church"  (1844-47)  and  "Central  Dogmas  of  the  Re- 
formed Church"  (1854).  His  second  work  contained 
much  historical  material  that  was  new.  Over  against 
Ebrard,  who  combats  him,  he  claimed  that  strict  predes- 

*  This  is  one  of  the  best  arguments  ever  made  against 
Strauss  and  his  basis,  Hegelianism,  and  utterly  demolishes 
the  Hegelianism  that  is  at  the  basis  of  Mercersburg  "The- 
ology" of  the  Reformed  in  the  United  States. 


438  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

tination  was  the  essential  doctrine  of  Calvinism.  But 
this  Calvinistic  doctrine,  with  its  particularism  and  its 
dualism  of  election  and  reprobation,  is  given  up  by  him, 
and  predestination  is  made  universal.  His  predestination 
is  pantheistic,  while  Calvin's  allowed  room  for  free- 
will. He  claimed  he  had  gone  back  of  Calvin  to  Zwing- 
li's  idea  of  predestination  as  revealed  in  his  sermon  at 
Marburg.  In  his  third  work,  "Christian  Doctrines  of 
Faith  (1863-69),  although  in  his  "Reformed  Dog- 
matics," he  had  treated  them  from  an  ecclesiastical  stand- 
point, yet  now  he  breaks  entirely  with  the  supernatural. 
He  also  gave  a  very  valuable  history  of  the  "Ethics  of 
the  Reformed  Church"  in  the  Studien  and  Kritiken  of 
Germany.     He  died  July  3,  il 


Section  4 

the  later  controversies  between  rationalists  and 
evangelicals 

The  Evangelical  Society  had  been  organized  in  1837, 
and  had  opposed  the  coming  of  Strauss.  In  1847  it  was 
enlarged  into  the  present  Evangelical  Society.  When  the 
university  became  rationalistic,  it  called  to  the  university, 
at  its  own  expense,  as  a  privat-docent,  Held  (1860-64), 
who  defended  the  Evangelical  position  in  his  lectures  on 
Jesus  and  other  works.  The  university  being  rational- 
istic, refused  to  make  him  a  professor,  so  sharp  was  the 
controversy  at  that  time.  He  was  succeeded  by  privat- 
docent  Woerner  (1865-75).  Since  the  death  of  Bieder- 
man  (1885),  the  authorities  have  elected  an  Evangelical 
into  the  faculty,  Prof.  Von  Schulthess-Rechberg.  He  and 
privat-docent  Arnold  Ruegg  (elected  1893)  now  repre- 
sent the  Evangelicals  in  the  theological  faculty. 

In  i860  there  was  friction  between  the  Evangelicals 
and  the  rationalists.  Following  the  great  revival  in 
America   and   Great   Britain,   in    1857,   the   Evangelicals 


ZURICH  439 

introduced  prayer  meetings  during  the  first  week  of  the 
year,  called,  in  English-speaking  lands,  "the  week  of 
prayer."  Hirzel,  at  the  Swiss  Preachers'  Society,  and 
also  in  the  rationalistic  "Voices  of  the  Times,"  also  Pro- 
fessor Schweitzer,  attacked  the  Evangelical  Society  for 
holding  them.  The  former  claimed  that  they  would  lead 
to  separatism  or  separation  of  church  from  state.  Instead, 
however,  they  retained  the  Evangelicals  within  the 
National  Church,  though  they  led  to  their  organization 
within  the  church.  Hebich,  the  missionary,  also  created 
a  sensation  that  year,  and  caused  controversy  by 
his  eccentricities  and  his  evangelistic  methods  at  his 
meetings  at  Zurich.  In  1862,  the  synod  set  aside  all 
subscription  to  creeds,  and  thus  opened  the  door  to  entire 
theological  liberty  in  the  church.  On  August  3,  1864, 
the  Evangelicals  dedicated  the  St.  Anna  Chapel,  built  at 
the  cost  of  $50,000,  by  Matilda  Escher.  She  had  many 
years  before  been  influenced  to  a  life  of  Christian  charity 
by  Elizabeth  Frey,  of  England.  She  first  began  religious 
work  among  the  prisoners,  and  became  the  great  female 
philanthropist  of  Zurich.  The  chapel  was  intended  as  a 
center  for  the  Evangelicals,  especially  in  their  religious 
activities.  She  died  1875,  and  Cleopha  Bremi  continued 
her  philanthropical  work.  An  Evangelical  congregation 
grew  up  in  the  St.  Anna  Chapel  numbering  about  600, 
and  it  has  been  of  great  influence  for  the  cause  of  Evan- 
gelical orthodoxy. 

Then  came  the  Vogelin  controversy.  Solomon  V6- 
gelin,  an  outspoken  rationalist  of  the  purest  water,  pastor 
at  Uster,  published  a  book  of  sermons  (1865),  so  ex_ 
treme  that  even  some  rationalists  were  offended.  Part 
of  his  congregation  who  were  Evangelical  seceded,  and 
organized  an  independent  congregation.  Seventy-eight 
ministers  brought  complaint  against  his  rationalism  be- 
fore the  Zurich  synod.  They  were  supported  by  seventv- 
nine  ministers  of  Bern  canton,  who  sent  a  protest  against 


440 


THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 


Vogelin's  teachings.  But  the  synod  refused  to  take  ac- 
tion against  Vogelin,  because  the  new  church  law 
allowed  entire  theological  liberty,  and  it  declared  that  it 
wanted  peace.  In  1868  Vogelin  published  a  rationalistic 
history  of  Jesus,  in  which  he  denied  miracles  and  the 
divinity  of  Christ.  In  1875,  the  Evangelical  Society  sent 
a  petition  of  1,000  signatures  against  its  use,  but  never- 
theless, it  was  introduced  into  the  secondary  schools,  and 
forced  into  some  congregations,  although  there  was  much 
opposition.  Vogelin  later  left  the  ministry,  and  became 
professor  of  history  in  the  university  at  Zurich,  in  1870. 
He  was  a  learned  man,  and  has  left  some  valuable  books 
as  "Old  Zurich."  In  1869,  the  Evangelicals  opened  an 
Evangelical  Normal  School  at  Zurich,*  as  the  cantonal 
Normal  School  at  Kiissnacht  had  come  under  the  control 
of  the  rationalists.  In  1868,  the  two  parties  in  the  synod 
agreed  to  a  double  liturgy,  one  set  of  forms  being  Evan- 
gelical, and  containing  the  Apostles'  Creed,  the  other  set 
being  rationalistic.  As  some  of  the  congregations  in  the 
city  of  Zurich  paid  no  attention  to  the  rights  of  the  Evan- 
gelical minority  in  them,  several  minority  congregations 
have  been  organized  there  in  connection  with  the  Evan- 
gelical Society.  One  of  these  congregations,  the  Beth- 
any, however,  is  almost  an  independent  chapel  in  its 
criticism  of  the  state  church,  but  the  others  adhere  to 
the  state  church,  and  are  doing  a  valuable  work  within  it. 
We  can  not  close  this  chapter  on  Zurich,  without  a 
mention  of  Meta  Heusser  Schweitzer,  the  religious 
poetess  of  Zurich.t  She  was  born  at  Hirzel,  on 
the  hills  on  the  south  side  of  Lake  Zurich,  April  6, 
1797,  and  lived  there.  The  source  of  her  poetic  inspira- 
tion were  her  Bible   and  nature   around   her.     Several 

*  The  Evangelicals  opened  four  such  Normal  Schools  in 
Switzerland,  at   Schiers,  Zurich,  Bern  and   Peseux. 

t  See  my  "Famous  Women  of  the  Reformed  Church," 
pages  180-85. 


ZURICH 


441 


volumes  of  her  poetry  have  been  published.  She  died, 
January  2,  1876.  Rev.  Dr.  Schaff  considered  her  the 
most  beautiful  religious  poetess  in  the  German  language. 
We  here  quote  a  translation  of  one  of  her  poems,  entitled, 
"Mountains" : 

The  everlasting  hills !  how  calm  they   rise, 

Bold  witnesses  to  an  Almighty  hand. 
We  gaze  with  longing  hearts  and  eager  eyes, 
And  feel  as  if  short  pathway  might  suffice 

From  those  pure  regions  to  the  heavenly  land. 

At  early  dawn,  when  the  first  rays  of  light 

Play  like  a  rosewreath  on  the  peaks  of  snow : 
And  late,  when  half  the  valley  seems  in  night, 
Yet  still  around  each  pale  majestic  height, 
The  sun's  last  smile  has  left  a  crimson  glow. 

Then  the  heart  longs,  it  calls   for  wings  to  fly, — 

Above  all  lower  scenes  of  earth  to  soar 
Where  yonder  golden  clouds  arrested  lie, 
Where  granite  cliffs  and  glaciers  gleam  on  high 

As  with   reflected  light   from   Heaven's  own  door. 

Whence  this  strange  spell,  by  thoughtful  souls  confest 
Ever  in  shadow  of  the  mountains  found? 

'Tis  the  deep  voice  within  our  human  breast, 

Which  bids  us  seek  a  refuge  and  a  rest 

Above,  beyond  what  meets  us  here  around ! 

Ever  to  men  of  God  the  hills  were  dear, 
Since  on  the  slopes  of  Ararat  the  dove 

Plucked  the  wet  olive  pledge  of  hope  and  cheer: 

Or  Israel  stood  entranced  in  silent  fear, 
While  God  on  Sinai  thundered  from  above. 

And  once  on  Tabor  was  a  vision  given, 

Sublime  as  that  which  Israel  feared  to  view, 

When  the  transfigured  Lord  of  earth  and  heaven, 

Mortality's  dim  curtain  lifted,  riven, 
Revealed  his  glory  to  his  chosen  few. 


442  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

On  mountain  heights  of  Galilee  he  prayed, 

While  others  slept,  and  all  beneath  was  still : 
From  Olivet's  recess  of  awful  shade, 
Thrice  was  that  agonized  petition  made, 

"O  that  this  cup  might  pass,  if  such  Thy  will!" 

And  on  Mount  Zion,  in  the  better  land, 

Past  every  danger  of  the  pilgrim  way, 
At  our  Redeemer's  feet  we  hope  to  stand, 
And  learn  the  meanings  of  His  guiding  hand 
Through  all  the  changes  of  our  earthly  day. 

Then  hail,  calm  sentinels  of  heaven,  again! 

Proclaim  your  message,  as  in  ages  past! 
Tell  us  that  pilgrims  shall  not  toil  in  vain, 
That  Zion's  mount  we  surely  shall  attain, 

Where  all  home  longings  find  a  home  at  last! 


CHAPTER  IV 
Bern 

Section  i 
the  founding  of  the  university 

The  canton  of  Bern  had  the  same  political  revolution 
as  the  other  cantons  about  1830.  By  it  the  classes  were 
given  up  and  only  the  synod  remained,  and  the  church  was 
more  than  ever  made  an  arm  of  the  state.  One  of  the  first 
acts  of  the  new  regime  was  to  found  a  university  at  Bern, 
in  1834.  The  radicals  made  use  of  this  occasion  to 
shelve  some  of  the  professors  who  were  Evangelical,  as 
Carl  Wyss,  professor  of  practical  theology,  and  Romang, 
professor  of  philosophy.  The  authorities  continued  only 
one  professor  of  the  old  theological  school  in  the  new 
university,  J.  L.  S.  Lutz,  and  called  as  his  colleagues, 
Schneckenberger,  Hundeshagen,  Gelpke  and  Zyro.  But 
so  great  was  the  popular  feeling  for  the  retention  of 
Wyss,  that  his  successor,  Zyro,  was  for  a  time  unpopular. 

John  Lewis  Samuel  Lutz  was  the  leader  of  the  univer- 
sity faculty.  He  was  born  October  2,  1785.  He  became 
an  orphan  and  was  reared  in  the  orphanage  at  Bern.  He 
studied  for  the  ministry  at  Bern,  and  then  at  the  univer- 
sities of  Tubingen  and  Gottingen.  He  was  carried  away 
by  the  influence  of  Herder.  He  returned  to  Bern  well 
versed  in  Semitic  languages  and  Kant's  philosophy,  and 
was  ordained  1808.  He  then  (1812)  taught  Hebrew  in 
the  gymnasium,  and  also  gave  lectures  on  exegesis  and 
isagogics  and  elements  of  Hebrew.  Dissatisfied  with  the 
city's  management  of  the  schools,  he  gave  up  teaching 

443 


444 


THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 


(1824),  and  accepted  a  pastorate.  His  pastoral  experi- 
ences deepened  his  spirituality,  and  he  passed  from  the 
merely  legal  earnestness  of  Kant  to  a  more  living  prac- 
tical faith.  When  the  political  revolution  occurred  he 
became  (1830)  pastor  of  the  Holy  Ghost  Church,  in  the 
city  of  Bern,  and  in  July,  1833,  was  made  professor  of 
the  Old  and  New  Testament.  The  next  year  (1834), 
when  the  university  was  founded,  he  was  transferred  to 
it.  In  1840,  he  was  dekan  of  Bern.  So  he  was  head  of 
the  church,  and  also  rector  of  the  university.  He  died 
September  21,  1844. 

Lutz  was  a  man  of  great  size  physically,  and  of  great 
strength  intellectually.  He  tried  to  avoid  the  so-called 
narrowness  of  confessionalism  on  the  one  hand,  and  the 
vagaries  of  rationalism  on  the  other.  He  inclined  to  the 
Schleiermacherian  type  of  theology,  but  was  less  specula- 
tive and  more  Biblical.  When  Strauss  was  called  to 
Zurich  he  took  strong  grounds  against  him.  He  granted, 
it  is  true,  the  mythical  nature  of  Christ's  birth  and  boy- 
hood, and  was  less  decided  on  the  fact  of  the  resurrection 
than  on  any  of  the  other  great  facts  of  Christ's  life.  But 
he  upheld  the  older  critical  school,  against  the  newer 
Straussian  views.  His  two  most  important  works  ap- 
peared after  his  death,  "Biblical  Theology"  (1847),  and 
"Biblical  Hermeneutics"  (1849).  The  first  was  his 
greatest  work,  one  of  the  first  of  its  kind.  Before  him 
theology  had  been  mainly  creedal,  he  aimed  to  make  it 
Biblical.  Neander  declared  this  work  took  a  front  rank 
among  the  books  of  its  day. 

Along  with  Lutz  at  the  university  was  Matthew 
Schneckenberger,  a  mild  Lutheran  from  Wurtemberg, 
and  follower  of  Schleiermacher.  Though  a  Lutheran 
he  used  the  old  creed  of  Bern,  the  second  Helvetic,  in  his 
lectures  on  dogmatics  and  aimed  to  develop  the  points 
of  contact  between  the  Lutherans  and  the  Reformed. 
This  led  to  his  most  important  work,  "The  Contrast  Be- 


BERN 


445 


tvveen  the  Reformed  and  Lutheran  View  of  Theology," 
a  very  valuable  irenic  treatise.  He  died  there  early, 
June  13,  1848. 

Bernhard  Hundeshagen,  another  of  the  professors, 
though  born  a  Lutheran,  became  strongly  Reformed, 
and  though  a  German  by  birth,  became  a  Swiss  citizen 
and  a  republican.  This  was  caused  by  his  expulsion 
from  the  University  of  Giessen  for  belonging  to  the 
Burschen  in  1826.  He  then  attended  Halle  and  was 
called  to  Bern  ( 1834) .  He  soon  revealed  ability  in  church 
history  by  the  publication  of  his  work  "The  Conflict  of 
Calvinism,  Lutheranism  and  Zwinglianism  in  the  Bern 
Church."  He  has  been  of  the  most  able  of  writers  on 
Reformed  Church  government.  His  monograph  "The 
Influence  of  Calvinism  on  the  Idea  of  the  State  and 
Civil  Freedom"  has  never  been  surpassed.* 

He  was  called  from  Bern  to  Heidelberg  and  then  to 
Bonn  as  professor,  where  he  died  (1873).  But  he  never 
gave  up  his  Swiss  citizenship  or  Reformed  Church  mem- 
bership at  Bern.  When  he  left  Gelpke  took  his  place  in 
church  history  and  published  a  valuable  "Church  History 
of  Switzerland"  (1857  and  1861).  Zyro  was  professor 
of  practical  theology,  was  a  follower  of  Schleiermacher, 
and  wrote  works  on  the  Heidelberg  Catechism  and  on 
the  presbyterial  form  of  government. 

Section  2 

the  call  of  prof.  edward  zhller 

The  death  of  Professor  Lutz  brought  on  a  crisis.  His 
great  ability  prevented  much  criticism,  for  he  was  con- 
servative enough  to  maintain  the  respect  of  the  orthodox 
and  critical  enough  to  retain  the  respect  of  the  liberals. 
A  change  in  the  government  enabled  the  rationalists  to 

*  His  great  work  on  church  government  is  "Beitrage  zur 
Kirchen-verfassungs-geschichte  und  Kirchen-politik,"  1864. 


446  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

elect  Professor  Zeller,  the  famous  Hegelian  of  Tubingen, 
January  14,  1847.  At  once  the  Evangelicals  took  alarm. 
Baggesen,  a  leading  Evangelical  minister  and  assistant 
at  the  cathedral  at  Bern,  as  president  of  the  Bern  synod, 
sent  a  protest  to  the  Bern  council.  In  this  he  was  sup- 
ported by  Professors  Schneckenberger  and  Hundeshagen, 
and  Revs.  Wyss  and  Romang,  formerly  professors,  but 
now  pastors.  On  March  24  a  petition  was  presented  to 
the  council,  signed  by  3,000  citizens,  asking  that  the  call 
of  Zeller  be  rescinded.  The  council  debated  about  this 
petition  for  fourteen  hours  and  finally  decided  March 
24  by  a  vote  of  118-23  not  to  rescind  the  call.  Baggesen 
published  a  pamphlet,  "Thoughts  on  the  Call  of  Dr. 
Edward  Zeller"  (1847),  in  which  he  charged  Zeller  with 
pantheism  and  declared  that  his  critical  views  would 
result  in  the  ruin  of  faith.  To  this  Ries,  professor  of 
philosophy,  replied,  declaring  Zeller's  views  to  be  Chris- 
tian. Baggesen  then  made  a  second  reply.  Romang,  too, 
attacked  Zeller's  philosophical  positions  in  an  able  pam- 
phlet, entitled  "The  Young  Hegelian  Creed."  Ries 
then  replied  to  both  of  these.  The  Evangelical  Society 
also  attacked  Zeller  in  pamphlets,  showing  by  quotations 
from  Zeller's  works  that  he  denied  the  personality  of 
God,  the  divinity  of  Christ  and  immortality.  These  pam- 
phlets were  scattered  broadcast  among  the  people.  The 
authorities  then  became  alarmed  for  fear  there  would 
be  a  riot  as  in  the  Straussian  episode  at  Zurich.  On 
March  18  they  issued  a  proclamation,  declaring  that  the 
agitation  against  Zeller  was  unfounded.  This  proclama- 
tion they  ordered  the  ministers  to  read  from  their  pulpits. 
This  produced  a  crisis.  Some  did  not  read  it.  Baggesen 
read  it  and  thus  saved  his  head  by  an  outward  obedience 
to  the  order.  But  having  read  it  he  declared  he  did  not 
agree  with  it.  Many  did  as  he  did.  Charges  were  brought 
against  those  who  did  not  read  it  and  some  were  dis- 
missed and  some  suspended. 


BERN  447 

Zeller  arrived  April  7,  1847,  greeted  with  the  shooting 
of  guns,  by  order  of  the  authorities.  On  April  16,  the 
Evangelical  Society  issued  a  proclamation  against  Zeller 
and  against  the  action  of  the  authorities.  But  Zeller  was 
not  as  extreme  as  Strauss,  although  his  fundamental  posi- 
tions were  the  same.  He  tried  hard  to  be  circumspect, 
because  he  knew  the  feeling  was  so  great  against  him. 
His  conduct  was  unexceptionally  proper,  much  to  the 
surprise  of  his  opponents.  He  won  the  students  to  him- 
self by  his  scholarship  and  the  nobleness  of  his  character. 
Knowing  the  charges  that  had  been  brought  against  him, 
he  was  careful  not  to  lecture  on  exegesis  as  much  as  on 
historical  theology. 

Meanwhile  the  authorities  were  outrageously  perse- 
cuting the  Evangelicals.  Liberal  theology  can  be  most 
illiberal,  and  can  persecute  just  like  the  pope.  Liber- 
alism of  thought  can  be  most  illiberal.  Heterodoxy  is 
often  more  oppressive  than  orthodoxy.  Under  the  guise 
of  liberty  it  becomes  a  tyrant.  It  must,  however,  be 
remembered  that  Bern  held  the  old  view  of  the  Swiss 
Reformation,  that  when  the  bishops  were  deposed,  the 
state  took  the  place  of  the  bishops,  and  exercised  episco- 
pal authority.  This  power,  which  had  already  been  so 
severely  used  by  Bern  against  the  sects,  was  now  used 
against  the  Evangelicals.  Ministers,  laymen,  even  women 
of  the  Evangelical  Society,  who  had  been  active  against 
Zeller,  were  severely  punished  even  with  imprisonment. 
The  fact  was  that  the  authorities  were  greatly  alarmed, 
and  feared  a  repetition  of  the  riot  at  Zurich,  in  the  time 
of  Strauss,  in  1839,  and  they  used  every  means  to  sup- 
press the  first  signs  of  anything  that  might  lead  to  a 
revolution.  Their  severe  measures  met  with  protests 
from  many  quarters.  Even  Biederman,  the  leader  of 
the  rationalists,  though  of  the  same  liberal  theology  as 
Zeller,  lifted  up  his  voice  against  them  in  his  paper,  "The 
Church  of  the  Present." 


448  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

But  Zeller  did  not  feel  at  home  at  Bern.  He  was  not 
received  into  social  relations  by  the  Evangelicals,  and  he 
gradually  lost  kinship  with  the  radicals  in  control  of  the 
government,  because  he  was  too  noble  a  man  to  be  a 
mere  politician  with  them.  The  fact  that  men,  and  even 
women,  should  lose  their  places  and  be  imprisoned  on 
his  account,  was  unpleasant  to  him.  So  in  1849,  ne  ac- 
cepted a  call  to  Marburg  University  and  left  Bern. 

Section  3 

the  controversies  since  zeller's  departure 

The  departure  of  Zeller  produced  somewhat  of  a  reac- 
tion, and  at  Zyro's  death  Carl  Wyss  was  again  made 
professor  of  practical  theology.  Thus  the  injustice  done 
him  by  his  dismissal  when  the  university  was  founded, 
was  somewhat  atoned  for.  But  in  place  of  Zeller,  came 
a  man  of  like  spirit,  Immer,  who  was  elected  in  1850. 
He  was  also  a  Hegelian,  but  not  so  extreme,  and  he  be- 
came the  leader  of  the  faculty.  He  was  a  Bernese  by 
birth,  born  August  10,  1804.  He  first  learned  the  trade 
of  book-binder,  and  entered  the  ministry  somewhat  late 
in  life.  But  his  ability  soon  put  him  in  the  front.  After 
studying  at  Bern  he  went  to  the  universities  of  Bonn  and 
Berlin,  and  returned  to  Bern  to  become  pastor,  in  1845. 
He  was  made  professor  of  theology  (1850).  His  work 
on  "Hermeneutics"  reveals  great  critical  ability,  though 
it  is  imbued  with  rationalism.*  He  also  published  "The 
Theology  of  the  New  Testament  (1877).  He  at- 
tempted to  unite  Hegel  and  Schleiermacher  by  using  the 
latter's  ideas,  but  giving  them  the  Hegelian  form.  He 
retired  1881,  and  died,  March  23,  1884. 

Just  after  the  election  of  Immer,  the  radical  party 
was  dethroned  in  Bern.     They  had  become  so  blatant 

*  It  has  been  translated  into  English  and  has  been  used 
in  some  of  our  American  theological   seminaries. 


BERN  449 

that  their  theological  position  was  reflected  in  a  catechism, 
published  1849,  which  declared  that  Christ  was  a  revolu- 
tionist, and  the  Bible  of  little  worth.  In  the  reaction  the 
conservatives  reorganized  the  church  on  a  presbyterian 
basis,  hoping  it  would  impart  new  life  to  the  church. 
But  no  mere  church  government  can  lift  a  church  to  life, 
or  convert  souls,  though  it  may  be  helpful  at  times.  In- 
deed, presbyterian  church  government,  when  joined  to 
state  control  (Erastianism),  has  often  proved  the  great- 
est hindrance  to  Evangelical  Christianity,  as  the  radicals 
gain  control  of  the  consistory  or  presbytery,  because  every 
citizen,  regardless  of  belief,  has  a  vote. 

By  1854,  attacks  began  to  be  made  on  the  orthodoxy 
of  the  theological  faculty,  especially  on  Immer,  as  by  the 
pastors  of  the  Simmenthal.  In  1858  another  attack  on 
the  faculty  was  made  by  B.  von  Wattenwyl  de  Portes,  a 
prominent  member  of  the  Free  Church  of  Bern.  The 
faculty  replied  to  these  attacks,  declaring  that  the  univer- 
sity was  not  a  mere  preacher's  seminary,  but  was  de- 
voted to  free  and  thorough  theological  research.  Still 
they  granted  that  there  were  some  things  in  the  Bible 
that  were  mythical,  as  Christ's  childhood  and  tempation. 
Von  Wattenwyl  de  Portes  replied  that  the  faith  of  the 
Bern  Church  was  the  Second  Helvetic  Confession,  and 
that  the  professors  were  teaching  contrary  to  it.  Dekan 
Studer,  of  the  theological  faculty,  replied,  quoting  the 
Helvetic  Confession  as  placing  itself  below  the  Bible. 

The  next  controversy  came  in  connection  with  the 
jubilee  of  the  death  of  Calvin,  in  1864,  when  the  Univer- 
sity of  Bern  conferred  the  degree  of  doctor  of  divinity 
on  Professor  Biederman,  of  Zurich.  To  many  it  seemed 
an  outrage  on  the  memory  of  Calvin,  that  on  his  anniver- 
sary, the  university  should  honor  a  man  so  opposed  to 
Calvin's  views.  The  fact  that  the  same  degree  was 
given  at  that  anniversary  to  Professor  Bungener,  a  biog- 
rapher of  Calvin,  did  not  lessen  the  criticism.     Many 

29 


450  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

pamphlets  appeared,  to  which  Immer  replied  in  a  pam- 
phlet, "The  Theological  Faculty  of  Bern  and  Their  Op- 
ponents (1864).  Baggesen  so  severely  criticised  their 
principles,  that  Immer  was  compelled  to  come  out  and 
state  their  views  in  "What  We  Believe  and  Teach" 
(1864),  a  sort  of  a  rationalistic  confession  of  faith  in 
which  he  denied  the  doctrine  of  the  trinity,  the  divinity 
of  Christ  and  miracles. 

But   these   controversies   soon   paled   before   another 
which  shook  the  Bern  Church  in  1865.     Edward  Lang- 
hans,  teacher  in  the  Normal  School  at  Munchenbuchsee, 
published  a  manual  for  religious  training,  entitled  "The 
Holy  Bible,  an  Aid  to  Teaching  in  the  Upper  Schools." 
It  was  an  able  book,  clear  and  practical,  but  was  written 
from  the  standpoint  of  Baur,  of  Tubingen.     It  denied 
miracles,  and  made  Jesus  a  great  man,  but  as  to  his  being 
a  revelation  of  God,  there  was  not  a  word.     The  Evan- 
gelicals bitterly  attacked  it  because  it  was  an  attempt  by 
the  rationalists  to  gain  control  of  the  Normal  School,  as 
they  had  of  the  university,  and  thus  poison  the  minds  of 
the  school  teachers  also  with  infidelity.     Fellenberg  and 
Giider   strongly   attacked   the   book.     Langhans   replied. 
The  matter  was  brought  before  the  synod  of  the  canton 
June  19,  1866.     In  the  debate,  which  lasted  five  hours, 
Giider  led  the  Evangelicals,  Professors  Immer  and  Mul- 
ler,  the  rationalists.     The  action  of  the  synod  was  favor- 
able to  the  orthodox  and  against  Langhans,  namely,  that 
the  authority  of  the  Scriptures  was  still  adhered  to.     But 
Langhans  continued  as  teacher  in  the  Normal   School. 
An  important  result  of  this  controversy  was  that  it  drove 
the  rationalists  and  the  mediates  apart,  while  before  this 
they  had  generally  acted  together  against  the  Evangel- 
icals, and  so  had  gained  the  control  of  the  synod.     As  a 
result  the  Reform  Society  of  Switzerland  was  organized 
September  25,  1866,  by  Frederick  Langhans  of  Bern,  and 
Lang-  of  Zurich.     The  rationalists  now  took  courage,  and 


BERN  45I 

proposed  a  new  programme  in  1868;  a  new  creed  thus 
setting  aside  the  second  Helvetic  Confession,  and  a  new 
constitution.  This  was  finally  effected  in  1874,  when  the 
new  constitution  set  aside  the  Second  Helvetic  Con- 
fession and  allowed  untrammeled  theological  liberty. 
But,  although  Bern  was  thus  drifting  from  its  old  con- 
fession, and  its  former  strict  Calvinism,  an  exception  is 
to  be  noted. 

Rev.  John  Frederick  Bula  was  born  October  25,  1828, 
at  Kerzers,  in  canton  Bern.  He  was  educated  at  the  Uni- 
versity of  Basle,  and  then  went  to  Halle,  where  he  came 
under  the  influence  of  Professor  Wichelhaus,  who  led  him 
to  become  a  follower  of  Kohlbrugge.  Then  he  was  for  a 
year  a  helper  of  Kohlbrugge  at  Elberfeld.  Later  he  be- 
came pastor  at  Blumenstein,  in  canton  Bern,  where  he 
labored  for  twenty-seven  years.  He  died  March  10, 
1895.  He  published  ''The  Redemption  of  Men  with  God 
through  Christ"  (1874),  in  which  he  reveals  the  high 
Calvinism  of  the  Kohlbruggian  type. 

Section  4 

the  evangeucae  society  of  bern 

The  coming  of  Galland,  one  of  the  converts  of  the 
revival  at  Geneva,  in  1817,  as  pastor  of  the  French  church 
at  Bern,  prepared  for  the  organization  of  this  society. 
His  earnest  preaching,  quite  in  contrast  with  the  for- 
malism of  the  cantonal  church,  made  his  church  a  center 
of  Evangelical  activity.  But  he  left  in  1824.  The  Evan- 
gelical Society  was  founded  in  the  autumn  of  1831,  at 
the  house  of  "blind  Elsie"  Kohler,  in  Metzgar  street  op- 
posite the  city  hall,  where  there  were  gathered  thirty 
persons.  To  show  that  they  were  adherents  of  the  Re- 
formed Church,  and  not  separatists,  their  first  publica- 
tion was  the  publication  of  the  Second  Helvetic  Confes- 
sion.    The  society  scattered  Bibles,  tracts,  Helvetic  Con- 


452 


THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 


fessions  and  Heidelberg  Catechisms  through  the  canton. 
It  also,  from  1835,  employed  evangelists,  having  had  fif- 
teen in  its  employ  up  to  1881.  The  society  was  almost 
led  out  of  the  state  church  (1838-39)  by  De  Valenti  (the 
head  of  a  religious  school  at  Bern),  because  the  Bern 
Church  exercised  no  church  discipline.  However,  the 
influence  of  Baggesen  held  it  within  the  state  church. 

It  was,  however,  the  Zeller  episode  that  brought  the 
society  into  prominence.  We  have  already  referred  to 
its  opposition  to  Zeller,  and  will  now  describe  its  ac- 
tivity more  in  detail.  It  drew  up  a  petition  against  Zel- 
ler's  coming,  and  published  a  pamphlet  by  Rev.  Edward 
Von  Wattenwyl,  pastor  of  the  Holy  Ghost  Church,  Bern, 
entitled  "Dr.  Zeller  and  His  Doctrines."  It  also  pub- 
lished a  pamphlet  by  Fellenberg,  the  prison  chap- 
lain at  Bern,  entitled  "The  Call  of  Dr.  Zeller."  The 
authorities,  fearing  a  Straussian  revolution,  declared  this 
to  be  sedition.  For,  as  we  have  seen,  the  state  in 
Bern  was  the  bishop.  Charges  were  brought  against  the 
Evangelical  Society  for  having  scattered  these  pam- 
phlets, and  ten  months  later  its  members  were  punished 
as  insurrectionists.  Rev.  Mr.  Konig,  of  Stettlen,  was 
imprisoned  eight  days  and  fined  50  francs ;  Rev.  Messrs. 
Strahl,  of  Erlenbach,  and  Speisseger,  of  Dietigen,  sus- 
pended for  five  months;  Rev.  Mr.  Furrer,  of  Wyl,  for 
six  months,  and  Rev.  Mr.  Wildholz,  of  St.  Beatenburg, 
for  two  years.  Fellenberg,  the  president  of  the  society, 
and  the  prison  chaplain,  was  imprisoned  in  the  prison 
where  he  ministered  for  20  days  and  fined  8  francs. 
Rev.  Edward  Von  Wattenwyl  was  imprisoned  25  days 
and  fined  100  francs.  Ten  laymen  were  imprisoned  from 
four  to  eight  days  and  fined  25-50  francs  each.  A  lady 
named  Mrs.  Von  Sturler,  a  member  of  one  of  the  leading 
families  of  Bern,  was  imprisoned  for  eight  days. 

But  this  very  persecution  raised  up  for  the  society 
manv  friends.     Manv  who  before  had  looked  on  it  with 


BERN 


453 


suspicion,  as  inclined  to  separatism,  now  joined  it,  as 
they  realized  that  it  was  the  center  of  Evangelical  ac- 
tivity. It  opened  a  hall  of  its  own  August  23,  1850, 
where  Rev.  Mr.  Von  Wattenwyl,  who  had  been  dismissed 
from  the  pastorate  of  the  Holy  Ghost  Church,  because  of 
his  activity  in  the  Zeller  affair,  preached  for  a  number  of 
years  on  Thursday  evenings.  They  also  began  religious 
services  there  on  Sunday  evenings,  and  in  1855  a  con- 
gregation was  organized  there  which  called  its  own  pas- 
tor. In  February,  1856,  because  the  theological  faculty 
of  the  university  had  now  become  rationalistic,  the  so- 
ciety sent  a  petition  to  council  asking  that  an  Evangelical 
professor  of  theology  be  placed  there,  promising  to  bear 
the  expense,  but  the  council  refused.  After  a  second  at- 
tempt to  do  this,  they  were  finally  able  to  gain  permission 
in  1879,  and  Prof.  Oettli  was  placed  in  the  theological 
faculty.  As  the  rationalists  had  gained  control  of  the 
Normal  School  at  Munchenbuchsee,  they  founded  (1863) 
a  teachers'  seminary  at  Muristalden.  In  1875  tneY  began 
the  observance  of  the  week  of  prayer  at  the  beginning 
of  the  year.  In  1879  Rev-  Mr.  Schrenk,  a  returned 
missionary,  became  their  pastor.  His  preaching  pro- 
duced a  great  sensation,  for  he  is  now  the  greatest  of  the 
evangelists  in  the  German  language.  This  Evangelical 
Society  has  been  a  great  power  in  Bern.  In  addition  to 
its  fine  chapel  in  Bern,  it  has  halls  in  many  places.  It 
has  furthered  the  cause  of  missions,  especially  of  the 
Basle  Mission  Society,  which  was  attacked  by  Langhans 
in  his  book,  "Pietism  and  Christianity  in  the  Light  of 
Foreign  Missions."  It  has  organized  Sunday  schools, 
young  people's  societies  and  other  forms  of  religious 
activity. 

In  connection  with  this  Evangelical  Society  several  of 
its  leaders  deserve  mention. 

Charles  Albert  Baggesen  was  born  at  Bern,  Sep- 
tember 27,  1793,  a  great-grandson  of  Albert  Von  Haller, 


454  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

the  great  scientist  and  apologist  of  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury. His  father  was  a  Dane,  and  he  was  educated  at 
Copenhagen,  Paris  and  Bern  and  Gottingen.  In  1825 
he  was  elected  third  assistant  at  the  cathedral  in  Bern, 
in  spite  of  the  opposition  of  the  secular  authorities,  and 
in  1831  first  assistant,  and  i860  pastor  of  the  cathedral. 
He  labored  in  connection  with  the  cathedral  for  forty- 
eight  years.  He  was  a  leader  in  the  church,  and  for  a 
time  president  of  the  synod.  As  its  secretary,  he  repre- 
sented the  Bern  Church  at  the  Reformation  jubilee  at 
Geneva,  in  1835.  In  his  early  life  he  inclined  toward 
Hegelianism,  but  later  he  became  Evangelical.  He  died 
March  10,  1873.  With  him,  as  defenders  of  Evangelical 
principles,  were  Wyss  and  Romang. 

A  later  leader  of  the  Evangelicals  was  Frederick  Gus- 
tavus  Edward  Giider,  born  June  1,  1817.  His  boyish 
faith  was  undermined  by  a  rationalistic  teacher  at  Biel. 
He  then  studied  at  Bern  and  Halle,  where  Tholuck 
greatly  influenced  him,  and  at  Berlin,  where  he  followed 
Schelling's  later  views,  and  where  he  loved  to  hear  the 
pietiest  Gossner.  After  a  pastorate  at  Biel,  in  1855  he 
was  elected  pastor  of  the  Nydeck  Church  in  the  city  of 
Bern,  which  he  soon  filled  to  overflowing.  He  lectured 
in  the  university  (1859-65)  on  New  Testament  theology 
and  apologetics.  It  was  the  Langhans  controversy  that 
brought  him  out  on  the  Evangelical  side  as  a  leader. 
Before  that,  he  had  tried  to  mediate  between  Immer  and 
Baggesen.  Thus,  when  so  many  Bern  ministers  signed 
the  protest  to  Zurich,  against  Vogelin's  blatant  ration- 
alism, his  name  was  not  among  them,  for  he  wanted 
peace  and  not  polemics.  But  the  publication  of  Lang- 
hans' manual  made  him  the  defender  of  the  Evangelicals. 
He  became  editor  of  the  "Kirchenfreund"  or  "Friend  of 
the  Church,"  the  organ  of  the  Evangelicals  in  Switzerland 
(1867-74),  and  president  of  the  Bern  synod  (1871-74). 
In  1879  he  read  a  paper  at  the  Evangelical  Alliance  at 


BERN  455 

Basle,  on  "The  Religious  Condition  of  Switzerland."  He 
labored  hard  for  the  retention  of  the  Second  Helvetic 
Confession  and  the  Heidelberg  Catechism.  He  died  July 
14,  1882 

One  more  name  appears  prominently  in  connection 
with  the  Evangelical  Society,  Elias  Schrenk.  A  Wur- 
temberger  by  birth,  he  was  sent  to  Africa  by  the  Basle 
Mission  Society  in  1859.  In  1864  he  returned  and  be- 
came one  of  their  home  secretaries.  From  1879  to  1886 
he  was  pastor  of  the  congregation  of  the  Evangelical 
Society  at  Bern.  He  held  large  evangelistic  meetings  in 
Bern  and  also  throughout  the  canton.  In  1886  he  went 
to  Germany,  where  he  has  become  the  Moody  of  the 
German  evangelists.     He  is  still  living  at  Barmen. 

There  was  also  a  Free  Church  organized  at  Bern.* 
Since  the  days  of  Galland,  pastor  of  the  French  Church, 
a  circle  of  pietists  existed  in  the  city  of  Bern.  When 
the  council  ordered  their  banishment  in  1829,  lo,  the  secre- 
tary of  the  council,  Charles  Von  Rodt,  a  man  of  high 
position  and  wealth,  joined  them.  For  this  he  was  ar- 
rested, imprisoned  and  banished.  He  went  to  Geneva, 
studied  under  Malan,  and  then  went  to  England,  where 
he  was  ordained.  When  the  radicals  gained  control  of  the 
government  in  1830,  religious  liberty  was  declared  and  he 
returned.  As  a  result  of  this  movement  there  is  now  a 
prosperous  Free  (German)  Church  in  the  city  of  Bern, 
and  there  are  also  Free  Churches  at  several  other  places. 

*  This  is  to  be  distinguished  from  the  Free  French  Church  of 
Bern  which  was  organized  there  by  the  Free  Church  of 
Vaud.     That  is  a  French  church.     This  is  a  German  church. 


CHAPTER  V 

schaffhausen 

Section  i 

the  defection  of  antistes  hurter 

In  Schaffhausen  the  controversy  was  not  with  ration- 
alism as  in  the  other  cantons,  but  against  Romanism. 
Frederick  Hurter  was  a  descendant  of  a  prominent  family 
of  this  canton,  which  had  given  many  ministers  to  the 
church.  He  was  born  and  educated  in  the  city  of  Schaff- 
hausen, later  at  Gottingen.  While  he  was  a  country 
pastor  in  the  canton  of  Schaffhausen,  Madame  Krudener 
came  into  the  canton.  He  led  the  churchly  conservatives 
against  her  revival.  In  1855  he  was  elected  antistes,  suc- 
ceeding antistes  Veith,  who  had  in  1824  succeeded  antistes 
Kirchhofer.  He  had  early  showed  signs  of  love  for  ritual- 
ism, and  began  making  it  prominent  after  he  became 
antistes.  Thus  he  had  the  form  of  ordination  enriched 
and  made  spectacular.  He  had  three  triumvirs  appointed 
from  among  the  ministers,  so  that  at  ordination  he  might 
appear  among  them  as  a  bishop  of  the  church.  All  this 
was  not  to  the  taste  of  the  plain  Swiss,  to  whom  it  looked 
as  if  he  wanted  to  make  Schaffhausen  a  sort  of  hierarchy. 
Then  came  the  publication  of  his  "Life  of  Pope  Inno- 
cent III"  (1834-42).  That  the  head  of  a  Protestant 
church  should  write  the  life  of  a  Catholic  was  considered 
quite  of  of  place.  But  it  was  his  friendly  attitude  toward 
Innocent  III,  whom  he  declared  to  be  the  most  splendid 
of  the  popes,  that  caused  suspicion  and  criticism.  Almost 
as  soon  as  he  was  made  antistes,  the  Catholics,  in  1836, 

456 


SCHAFFHAUSEN  457 

were  given  permission  to  have  their  worship  in  the  city 
of  Schaffhausen,  a  right  forbidden  since  the  Reforma- 
tion. This  caused  a  sensation  among  the  Protestants  and 
aroused  fears.  It  was  only  through  his  influence  that 
this  was  granted.  In  March,  1838,  a  circular  appeared 
about  this  concession  to  the  Catholics  that  caused  alarm 
and  a  demand  was  made  that  he  call  the  ministers 
together.  He  replied  that  it  did  not  suit  him  to  do  so,  as 
he  wanted  to  take  a  trip  and  would  call  the  meeting  on 
his  return.  But  during  his  absence  the  death  of  a  minis- 
ter brought  the  ministers  together.  It  was  decided  by 
them  to  call  a  meeting  of  the  ministers.  But  Maurer,  the 
head-triumvir  of  the  church,  delayed  doing  this  until 
Hurter  returned.  On  his  return,  when  asked  to  call  a 
meeting,  he  replied  that  he  was  going  away  to  Frank- 
ford,  in  Germany.  Finally,  on  May  9,  the  ministers 
succeeded  in  having  a  meeting.  They  passed  an  action 
against  the  Catholic  services  in  the  city  of  Schaffhausen 
and  demanded  guarantees  from  the  government  and  sent 
these  to  the  council.  When  their  action  was  reported  to 
Hurter  at  Frankford  he  refused  to  ratify  it,  and  wrote 
against  it.  But  the  council  acted  favorably  on  the  petition 
of  the  ministers.  It  took  action  limiting  the  Catholic 
influence  by  forbidding  their  proselyting,  and  also  their 
reading  the  papal  bulls  or  letters  in  their  churches.  All 
this  did  not  prevent  Hurter  from  continuing  his  associa- 
tion with  the  Catholics.  He  visited  Lombardy  to  see 
Emperor  Ferdinand  crowned  and  did  this  on  the  regular 
day  of  prayer  of  the  canton,  which  caused  great  offense 
to  the  Protestants.  He  also  went  to  Vienna  in  1839,  to 
place  his  son  in  school  there.  This  trip  began  on  one  of 
the  days  of  prayer  in  Schaffhausen,  which  also  caused 
criticism  against  him. 

Early  in  1840  a  Swiss  reported  that  he  had  seen  the 
antistes  and  his  wife,  on  March  19,  in  the  Catholic 
cloister   at   Catharinenthal,    near    Schaffhausen,   bowing 


458  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

before  the  mass,  making  the  sign  of  the  cross  and  using 
holy  water  there.  This  charge  caused  a  meeting  of  the 
ministers  to  be  held.  Before  the  meeting  he  denied  it  to 
Rev.  Mr.  Kirchhofer.  But  the  Swiss  who  brought  these 
charges  offered  to  make  an  affidavit  that  it  was  true. 
By  this  time  the  citizens  of  Schaffhausen  had  become  so 
outraged  that  they  determined  that  he  should  not  again 
ascend  the  pulpit  in  their  city,  and  the  council  ordered 
an  investigation.  On  April  9,  1840,  he  sent  his  resigna- 
tion as  dekan.  The  ministers  requested  him  to  send  a 
statement  that  he  was  still  a  Protestant.  He  said  his  reply 
could  be  gotten  at  St.  John's  Church  in  Schaffhausen. 
This  reply  he  afterwards  enlarged  into  a  book,  entitled 
"Antistes  Hurter  and  His  So-called  Brethren  in  the 
Ministry,"  published  June  II,  1840.  Outwardly  it  was  a 
defence  of  his  views,  but  he  was  very  sharp  in  his  per- 
sonal attacks  on  his  fellow-ministers.  Meantime  the 
ministerial  convent  asked  his  three  times  for  his  reply, 
and  finally  they  gave  him  fourteen  days  to  send  it  in. 
Then  the  ministerial  convent  deposed  him  and  elected 
Spliess  antistes  in  his  stead.* 

Finally  in  February,  1844,  Hurter  went  to  Rome  and 
on  June  16,  1844,  his  conversion  to  Rome  was  completed 
there.  In  1845  he  published  "Birth  and  Re-birth,"  which 
defended  his  perversion  to  Rome.  He  died  at  Gratz  in 
1865.  His  perversion  to  Rome  produced  no  effect  on  his 
canton,  which  remained  as  strongly  Protestant  as  before. 
But  it  caused  a  stir  in  Switzerland  that  the  head  of  one 
of  the  Protestant  churches  should  become  a  Catholic, — 
a  thing  unheard  of  in  the  history  of  Protestantism  since 
the  Reformation.  The  election  to  the  antistes'  chair  of 
Spliess,  who  had  been  the  main  opponent  of  Hurter,  led 
to  a  very  decided  tendency  in  the  canton  to  Evangelical 
piety  and  activity  in  the  canton.     He  died  in  1854,  and 

*  We  have  already  spoken  of  him  in  connection  with  the 
pietism  of  Schaffhausen. 


SCHAFFHAUSEN  459 

Kirchhofer  became  antistes.  He  was  so  pietistic,  foster- 
ing all  aggressive  religious  movements  in  the  church,  that 
when  a  political  reaction  occurred  in  1862  he  was  not 
re-elected,  because  rationalists  and  formalists  in  the  coun- 
cil united  against  him.  Mezgar  was  elected  antistes  in 
his  stead.  When  Hebich  came  to  Schaffhausen  the  coun- 
cil forbade  his  meetings.  But  thanks  to  the  pietism  in  the 
canton  and  to  its  adherence  to  the  Heidelberg  Catechism 
this  canton  has  remained  orthodox  to  this  day.  In  1887 
it  did  not  have  a  rationalist  among  its  ministers.  Then 
one  was  elected  at  Unterhalten,  and  in  1900  another  at 
St.  John's  Church,  in  the  city  of  Schaffhausen,  where 
there  are  now  two.  It  was  not  till  1890  that  a  Reform 
society  was  founded. 

Before  leaving  the  German  cantons  (as  time  does  not 
permit  us  to  take  up  the  rest  of  them)  we  would  note 
that  in  1874  the  synod  of  the  canton  of  Thurgau,  which 
has  become  rationalistic,  forbade  the  use  of  the  Apostles' 
Creed  in  the  worship.  For  insisting  on  using  it  one  of 
the  dekans,  Steiger,  was  compelled  to  resign  his  charge. 
He  then  organized  a  Reformed  church  independent  of  the 
state  at  Emmishofen.  But  the  synod  later  learned  wis- 
dom and  in  1876  granted  the  use  of  other  Swiss  liturgies, 
some  of  whom  contain  the  Apostles'  Creed. 


PART  II 

THE  FRENCH    CANTONS 

CHAPTER  I 
Geneva 

Section  i 
the  evangelical  church  of  geneva 

This  was  an  outgrowth  of  the  revival  in  Geneva, 
which  we  have  already  described.  But  we  have  thus  far 
described  that  movement  mainly  outside  of  the  National 
Church  of  Geneva.  There  was,  however,  an  element 
within  that  church  that  was  Evangelical,  and  on  January 
24>  1831,  they  (nine  in  all)  organized  an  Evangelical  So- 
ciety. Two  of  them  were  pastors,  Gaussen,  pastor  at 
Satigny,  and  Galland,  who  had  returned  from  Bern.  The 
others  belonged  to  the  best  families  in  Geneva.  This  so- 
ciety held  religious  services  on  Sunday  evenings,  and  a 
prayer  meeting  on  Thursday  evenings;  also  a  mission 
meeting  on  the  first  Monday  of  the  month,  and  organized 
a  Sunday  School  whose  attendance  soon  rose  to  100. 

Cheneviere,  professor  of  theology,  published  at  the 
beginning  of  1831,  his  "Dogmatics,"  in  which  he  attacked 
the  confessions  of  the  church  and  the  doctrines  of  grace, 
such  as  the  trinity,  original  sin,  etc.  The  Evangelical 
Society  felt  that  something  must  be  done  to  counteract 
such  rationalistic  teaching.  Their  answer  was  the  found- 
ing of  an  Evangelical  Theological   Seminary.     In   fact, 

461 


462  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

their  full  programme  consisted  of  three  parts : 

First,  the  establishment  of  a  congregation,  the  Church 
of  the  Oratoire. 

Second,  the  Evangelization  of  France,  and 
Third,  the  founding  of  a  theological  seminary.* 
The  attendance  on  their  religious  services  finally  com- 
pelled them  to  have  a  building  of  their  own.  So  the 
Church  of  the  Oratoire  was  opened  February  9,  1834. 
It  was  a  large  building,  seating  1,000  persons.  It  was  not 
intended  to  be  a  congregation,  but  only  a  preaching-place 
of  the  National  Church,  for  its  attendants  were  still  mem- 
bers of  the  National  Church. 

The  Lord's  Supper  was  celebrated  there  for  the  first 
time  on  Whitsunday,  1835.  In  J^4°  tne  ministers  and 
members  of  the  Church  of  the  Bourg  du  Four  began  to 
participate  in  the  work  of  the  Evangelical  Society.  They 
had  by  this  time  removed  to  their  beautiful  chapel  of  the 
Pelisserie.  Empeytaz  was  made  a  member  of  the  com- 
mittee, and  Guers  and  Bost  gave  lectures  in  the  new 
Theological  School.  Finally  a  joint  committee  was  ap- 
pointed, who  drew  up  a  basis  of  agreement,  and  so  the 
Free  Church  of  Geneva  was  organized  out  of  the  Pelis- 
serie and  the  Evangelical  Society,  in  1849.  It  did  not 
adopt  any  of  the  old  creeds,  as  the  Second  Helvetic  Con- 
fession, but  drew  up  a  simple  creed  of  its  own  in  sixteen 
articles,  as  nearly  Biblical  as  possible.  The  church  govern- 
ment was  a  liberal  Presbyterianism.  In  cultus  it  allowed 
liberty,  the  Oratoire  using  the  old  French  liturgy,  while 
the  Pelisserie  used  a  free  service, — rather  a  conference 
and  prayer  meeting.  The  members  were  free  to  attend 
either  place  of  worship.  The  congregation  numbered 
about  700.  But  there  were  also  many  regular  attendants 
from  the  National  Church  and  the  church  exerted  an 
influence  far  above  its  numbers. 

*  Of  the  second,  the  evangelization  of  France,  we  need  not 
speak,  as  it  does  not  concern  Switzerland. 


GENEVA  463 

Section  2 
the  evangelical  school  of  theology 

This  school,  which  was,  as  we  have  seen,  one  of  the 
creatures  of  the  Evangelical  Society,  was  opened  January 
30,  1832,  on  the  basis  of  the  Second  Helvetic  Confession. 
It  was  Calvinistic,  but  liberally  so.     Of  its  first  profes- 
sors, Merle  D'Aubigne  was  the  most  prominent,  especially 
as  Gaussen  was  not  able  to  enter  the  faculty  till  1836. 
D'Aubigne  was  a  descendent  of  one  of  the  most  prominent 
families  of  Geneva,  his  ancestor  being  Agrippa  D'Aubigne, 
of  whom  we  have   already   spoken.     He   was   born   at 
Geneva,  August  16,  1794.     We  have  already  met  with 
him  in  the  revival  at  Geneva,  when  he  presided  at  the 
meeting  of  the  students,  in  November,  1816,  to  protest 
against  Empeytaz's  attack  on  the  orthodoxy  of  the  theo- 
logical professors  of  the  university.     Later,  as  we  have 
seen,  he  became  a  convert  of  the  revival ;  indeed,  his  was 
the  most  surprising  conversion  of  the  revival,  for  he  had 
been  the  leader  of  the  students  against  orthodoxy.     The 
regulations  of  the  Venerable  Company  of  May  3,  1817, 
he  subscribed  to,  as  they  were  so  explained  to  him  as  to 
be  unobjectionable.     He  then  went  to  Germany,  where 
he  attended  the  great  Reformation  festival  at  the  Wart- 
burg,  October  31,  181 7.    There,  where  Luther  translated 
the  Bible  into  German,  he  conceived  the  idea  of  writing 
a  history  of  the  Reformation,  which  he  later  carried  out, 
and  which  gave  him  great  fame.    He  then  went  to  Berlin 
University,   where   Neander  gave   him   his   impulse    for 
church  history.     His  stay  in  Germany  chilled  his  early 
faith  of  the  revival  at  Geneva.    He  found  that  the  minis- 
try and  laymen,  the  books  and  journals  were  so  tinctured 
with  mere  naturalism  that  he  underwent  a  great  struggle 
with  his  doubts.     Sometimes  he  passed  the  whole  night 
in  crying  to  God  for  help,  or  in  trying  by  arguments  to 
repel  the  attacks  of  the  enemy.    Finally  he  applied  to  one 


464  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

of  the  champions  of  orthodoxy,  Kleuker,  of  Kiel,  for 
advice.  The  latter,  after  listening  sympathetically  to  his 
difficulties,  declined  to  solve  them,  but  replied,  "Were  I 
to  succeed  in  ridding  you  of  these,  others  would  come. 
There  is  a  shorter,  deeper,  more  complete  way  of  annihi- 
lating them.  Let  Christ  be  really  to  you  the  Son  of  God. 
Only  be  firmly  settled  in  this  grace  and  then  these  diffi- 
culties of  detail  will  never  stop  you.  The  light  which 
proceeds  from  Christ  will  dispel  the  darkness."  His 
doubts  thus  satisfied,  he  entered  the  ministry  and  became 
pastor  of  the  French  church  at  Hamburg  (1818-23). 
Then  he  went  to  Brussels  (1823-30)  as  private  chaplain 
of  the  King  of  the  Netherlands,  and  president  of  the  con- 
sistory of  the  French  and  German  Protestant  congrega- 
tions in  that  land.  In  the  revolt  of  1830,  he  was  compelled 
to  leave  (1831).  His  return  to  Geneva  was  most  oppor- 
tune, as  the  Evangelicals  were  already  considering  the 
founding  of  the  Theological  Seminary,  and  his  arrival  fi- 
nally decided  them  to  do  so.  He  was  elected  among  the 
first  of  its  professors.  For  accepting  this  position  he  was 
suspended  by  the  National  Church.  During  his  profes- 
sorship he  began  the  preparation  of  his  history  of  the 
Reformation,  whose  first  volume  appeared  1835,  and  it 
was  completed  in  13  volumes,  three  of  them  published 
after  his  death.  In  1845  ne  visited  Scotland,  at  the  in- 
vitation of  the  Free  Church.  The  University  of  Berlin 
(1846),  at  the  request  of  Neander,  gave  him  the  degree 
of  doctor  of  divinity.  The  King  of  Prussia,  Frederick 
William  IV,  in  1853,  gave  him  the  golden  medal  of 
science.  In  1861  he  took  a  very  active  part  in  the  meeting 
of  the  Evangelical  Alliance  at  Geneva.  In  1864  he  pro- 
posed that  the  anniversary  of  Calvin's  death  should  be 
observed  by  the  building  of  a  great  Reformation  hall  at 
Geneva,  which  should  be  a  religious  center.  This  was 
dedicated  in  1868.    He  died  October  21,  1872. 

Another  prominent  professor  was  Louis  Gaussen.    We 


GENEVA  465 

have  already  seen  his  strong  attachment  to  orthodoxy, 
although  in  the  National  Church.  His  first  effort  to  re- 
vive the  National  Church  was  by  the  organization  of  a 
missionary  society.  His  break  with  the  National  Church 
was  gradual,  but  a  crisis  finally  occurred.  In  1827  he  had 
abandoned  the  official  catechism  of  his  church,  because 
it  omitted  the  fundamental  doctrines  of  the  Gospel.  The 
result  was  a  controversy  in  which  he  claimed  that  ac- 
cording to  law  Calvin's  catechism  was  still  the  legal 
catechism  of  the  church,  and  that  the  new  church  cate- 
chism was  not  legal.  He  then  proceeded  to  publish  his 
correspondence  on  that  subject  with  the  Venerable  Com- 
pany, which  ordered  it  suppressed.  He  refused  to  submit, 
so  the  Venerable  Company  suspended  him  from  the 
ministry.  Another  reason  for  his  deposition  was  his  con- 
nection with  the  Evangelical  School  of  Theology.  For- 
bidden by  the  Venerable  Company  to  preach,  he  travelled 
through  Italy  and  England  in  the  interest  of  that  theo- 
logical school.  In  1834  he  returned  to  Geneva  and  began 
teaching  in  that  Evangelical  School.  He  revived  Calvin- 
ism and  taught  the  theology  of  Francis  Turretin.  His 
most  famous  book  was  "Theopneustie,"  in  which  he 
strongly  supported  the  verbal  inspiration  of  the  Bible. 
He  died  June  18,  1863. 

But  the  theological  school  was  not  without  its  diffi- 
culties. The  number  of  students  was  small,  as  its  con- 
stituency was  so  limited.  Other  institutions,  as  Montau- 
ban  and  Paris,  refused  to  recognize  its  diplomas.  For  a 
number  of  years  it  had  only  from  10  to  20  students. 
Then  it  made  an  arrangement  with  the  Waldenses  of 
Italy,  who  sent  their  students  to  it  until  they  opened  their 
theological  school  at  Florence,  Italy.  So  by  1845  tne 
number  of  students  had  risen  to  45.  There  were  also 
other  difficulties,  as  with  the  professors.  Havernick  went 
back  to  Germany;  Steiger  died  (1836)  ;  Preiswerk,  who 
came  in  Steiger's  place,  went  off  into  Irvingism,  taking 

30 


466  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

four  of  the  students  with  him. 

In  1850  there  came  a  serious  crisis  in  the  school  be- 
tween the  old  and  the  new  theology.     Scherer  had  come 
as  professor  in  18-44.     He  was  a  follower  of  Schleier- 
macher  and  had  published   (1843)    a  dogmatics  of  the 
Reformed  Church  in  the  spirit  of  Nitzsch,  which  was 
Biblical,  though  independent.     In   1845  ne  published  a 
church  paper  whose  object  was  to  introduce  the  mediat- 
ing theology  of  Schleiermacher,  as  modified  by  Vinet. 
But  he  went  farther  than  either  Schleiermacher  or  Vinet. 
His   "Criticism   and   Faith,"   published    1849,   compelled 
him  to  resign,  and  he  left  Geneva  early  in  1850  for  Stras- 
burg,  taking  with  him  ten  students  who  sympathized  with 
his  views.    He  later  gave  up  theology  entirely  and  became 
one  of  the  leading  literary  critics  of  France.    When  this 
controversy  occurred  Professor  Cheneviere,  the  old  oppo- 
nent of  the  Evangelical  Church  and  seminary,  saw  his  op- 
portunity.   He  came  out  against  Scherer,  posing  as  more 
orthodox  than  Scherer,  thus  making  it  appear  that  the 
Evangelical  Theological  School  had  a  professor  who  was 
more  heterodox  than  he.    But  he  was  very  ably  answered 
by  Malan,  who  clearly  revealed  Cheneviere's  shallowness. 
Still  the  controversy  revealed  the  difference  between  the 
old    formal    rationalism   and    the   newer    life-theory   of 
Scherer's  rationalism.     In   i860  Gaussen  published  his 
"Canon  of  Scripture"  as  the  continuation  of  his  "Theo- 
pneustie,"  and  as  an  answer  to  these  later  views  about 
the  Bible.     But  the  bitterness  between  the  National  and 
Free  Church  gradually  passed  away,  and  in   1880  the 
Evangelical  Theological  School  elected  a  minister  of  the 
National  Church,  Edward  Barde,  as  professor. 

In  1896,  Cremer,  the  last  of  the  old  professors  to  hold 
to  the  old  theology  of  the  "Theopneustie,"  died,  and  in- 
stead of  the  old  Calvinism  in  which  the  Theological 
School  had  started,  it  now  holds  to  a  simple  Evangelical 
position,   emphasizing   the   supernatural   and   the   evan- 


GENEVA  467 

gelistic. 

Section  3 
the  national  church  of  geneva 

This  church,  as  we  have  seen,  was  strongly  Socinian 
in  the  days  of  Haldane.  And  yet  God  did  not  leave  His 
church  without  a  witness.  For  the  revival  had  a  reactive 
effect  on  the  National  Church.  In  fact,  the  later  history 
of  the  National  Church  may  be  taken  as  a  justification  of 
the  revival.  A  missionary  society  was  organized  in  1821, 
and  the  visits  of  different  missionaries  stimulated  the 
church.  The  Venerable  Company  finally  appointed  a 
regular  monthly  missionary  service,  which  continued  till 
1835.  Then  Zaremba,  a  Pole,  and  a  missionary  to  the 
Armenians,  in  speaking  of  the  Mohammedans,  happened 
to  declare  that  their  opposition  to  Christianity  was  due  to 
their  rejection  of  the  divinity  of  Christ.  This  angered 
the  Venerable  Company  so  that  it  ordered  that  missionary 
services  should  be  given  up.  However,  when  Lacroix, 
the  famous  missionary  of  India,  visited  Geneva,  he  was 
permitted  to  lecture,  and  his  lectures  produced  a  pro- 
found impression. 

In  1835  occurred  the  tercentenary  of  the  Reformed 
Church,  which  the  Venerable  Company  tried  to  observe 
as  a  great  national  festival.  It  took  place  August  22-26. 
Six  thousand  children  assembled  in  the  churches  and  were 
given  a  memorial  medal  on  which  faith  and  reason  illumi- 
nated the  Bible.  And  yet  there  were  three  events  that 
marred  this  tercentenary  of  the  Reformation. 

The  first  was  that  the  festival  revealed  the  isolation 
of  the  National  Church  of  Geneva.  Numerous  invitations 
had  been  sent  out  to  other  churches,  yet  a  number  of 
foreign  churches  refused  to  accept,  because  of  the  het- 
erodoxy of  the  Church  of  Geneva.  The  Churches  of  Scot- 
land and  England  refused  to  send  delegates.     Even  the 


468  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

neighboring  Church  of  Vaud  refused  on  that  account, 
only  the  classis  of  Yverdon  sending  two  delegates,  Bauty 
and  Mellet.  For  this  it  was  severely  censured  by  the 
other  classes  of  that  church.  The  Evangelical  Churches 
in  general  stood  aloof. 

The  second  fact  was  that  the  only  Germans  present 
were  the  vulgar  rationalists,  Bretschneider,  Ammon  and 
Rohr.  This  was  significant.  Birds  of  a  feather  flock 
together.  A  Unitarian  Church  like  that  of  Geneva  at 
that  time  was  an  inviting  field  for  foreigners  who  denied 
the  divinity  of  our  Lord. 

The  third  was  the  publication  of  a  new  edition  of  the 
rationalistic  Genevan  Bible  of  1805  by  the  authorities. 
Thus,  in  it  the  phrase  which  in  the  original  Greek,  reads 
"The  Word  was  God"  (John  1:1)  was  translated  "The 
Word  was  Divine,"  divinity  with  them  meaning  less  than 
deity. 

In  1837  there  came  a  curious  inversion  of  things. 
Cheneviere,  who  had  led  to  the  disciplining  of  the  Evan- 
gelical students  in  1817,  and  for  a  quarter  of  a  century 
been  the  leader  of  the  church,  was  disciplined  by  the 
Genevan  authorities  and  suspended  for  six  months,  be- 
caused  he  observed  a  Thursday  instead  of  a  Sunday  as  the 
day  of  national  fast.  Thursday  had  always  before  that 
been  the  fast-day  in  Geneva,  while  Sunday  was  the  day 
observed  in  Switzerland,  and  the  new  Swiss  law  placed 
it  on  a  Sunday.  In  1842  Diodati,  an  Evangelical,  was 
made  professor  of  homiletics  and  apologetics,  and  began 
exerting  a  strong  influence  on  the  students.  In  that  year 
the  radicals  overturned  the  conservatives  and  held  the 
government  for  fifteen  years.  That  government  made  the 
church  virtually  creedless,  yet  with  it  came  more  liberty 
in  the  Church,  for  any  catechism,  even  Evangelical,  could 
now  be  used.  In  1861  the  Evangelical  Alliance  held  its 
meeting  in  Geneva.  Of  course,  the  rationalists  looked  on 
it  with  suspicion,  but  many  Evangelicals  also  did  so,  be- 


GENEVA  469 

cause  it  placed  those  whom  the  Swiss  called  sects,  as 
Methodists  and  Baptists,  on  an  equality  with  the  church 
(Reformed  and  Lutheran).  At  this  meeting  Professor 
Riggenbach,  of  Basle,  made  a  ringing  address  on  "The 
Rationalism  of  Switzerland,"  to  which  Biederman  made 
reply  in  "The  Voices  of  the  Time."  In  1868  occurred 
an  important  event  for  the  Evangelicals.  They  opened 
the  large  Reformation  Hall,  seating  1,500.  Of  the  300,000 
florins  raised  for  it,  England  and  Scotland  gave  one-third 

Section  4 

the  later  events  in  the  national  church  of  geneva 

In  1869  there  was  a  new  controversy  between  the 
rationalists  and  Evangelicals.  Before  this  the  rational- 
ists had  been  been  led  by  Professors  Cougnard  and  Chas- 
tel  and  by  Carteret,  a  layman,  the  head  of  the  govern- 
ment. At  this  time  Buisson,  the  rationalist  of  Neuchatel, 
came  to  Geneva,  and  there  was  a  great  public  debate  be- 
fore 2,500  persons,  between  him  and  Rev.  Edward  Barde, 
in  the  Reformation  Hall,  May  4,  1869.  Buisson's  attack 
was  on  the  Old  Testament,  to  which  Barde  replied  that 
the  Old  Testament  was  so  bound  up  with  the  New  that 
it  was  impossible  to  separate  them.  Professor  Coug- 
nard continued  the  controversy  in  a  sermon  on  Luke 
14:23,  "Compel  them  to  come  in,"  in  which  he  declared 
that  the  Evangelical  doctrines  were  an  eternal  heresy, 
and  that  the  true  religion  was  one  without  dogmas  or 
discipline.  But  the  consistory,  to  the  surprise  of  the 
Evangelicals,  expressed  itself  in  sympathy  with  the  op- 
ponents of  Cougnard.  The  truth  was,  that  the  blatant 
rationalism  now  coming  up  under  Buisson  was  too  ex- 
treme even  for  some  of  those  who  before  had  been 
rationalists  under  the  guise  of  the  church.  While  the 
rationalists  were  thus  weakening  the  Evangelicals  became 
more  aggressive.     In  1871  they  founded  a  branch  of  the 


47o  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

Swiss  Church   Society.     It  opened  a  chapel,  and  later 
employed  three  assistant  pastors,  who  were  finally  ad- 
mitted to  the  National  Church.     In  1875  a  new  liturgy 
was  adopted,  inclined  to  rationalism.     In   1877  Barde, 
one  of  the  leaders  of  the  Evangelicals  in  the  National 
Church,  was  suspended  for  refusing  to  read   from  his 
pulpit  a  proclamation  of  the  consistory  in  regard  to  fast- 
days.     He  claimed  that  the  minister  had  the  legal  right 
to  decide  as  to  its  reading.     He  was  suspended  for  six 
months,  in  spite  of  the  protest  of  his  congregation.     But, 
in  1879,  a  reaction  took  place,  and  an  Evangelical  con- 
sistory was  elected.     In  1880  Barde  was  elected  a  pro- 
fessor in  the  Evangelical  Theological  School.     The  Na- 
tional Church  did  not  cast  him  out,  as  they  had  done 
Gaussen  years  before.     That  church  had  learned   wis- 
dom since  then.     Meanwhile  the  Evangelicals  were  in- 
creasing in  influence,  as  many  of  the  younger  men  were 
affected  by  the  teachings  of  Vinet.     Two  Evangelical  pas- 
tors were  elected,  Doret,  in  1883,  and  Ferriere,  in  1884. 
In   1885,  at  the  350th  anniversary  of  the  Reformation, 
the  consistory  was  equally   divided  between  the  Evan- 
gelicals and  the  rationalists.     In  1891  Martin,  an  Evan- 
gelical, was  elected  professor  of  theology,  as  was  From- 
mel,  also  Evangelical,  in  1894,  thus  giving  two  of  the 
theological  chairs  to  the  Evangelicals.     The  reason  for 
this  was  that  Geneva  had  learned  a  lesson  that  her  Evan- 
gelical students  would  go  elsewhere  to  study,  as  to  Lau- 
sanne and  Montauban.     In  1895  nine  of  the  fifteen  pas- 
tors were  Evangelical.     In  1896  Professor  Cougnard,  for 
thirty  years  the  leader  of  the  rationalists,  died.     Mean- 
while   an    eloquent    young    minister,    Frank    Thomas, 
was  becoming  an  aggressive  leader  in  the  church,  though, 
in  1899,  he  left  the  National  Church  and  opened  evan- 
gelistic services  in  the  large  Victoria  Hall   in   Geneva, 
which  were  largely  attended.     In  1899  the  Evangelicals 
gained  control   and  the  consistory   stood   twenty   Evan- 


GENEVA  47 J 


gelicals  to  ten  rationals,  and  to-day,  out  of  about  forty 
ministers,  only  about  eight  are  rationalistic  it  is   said. 
Thus  the  Genevan  Church  has  been  gradually  finding  its 
way  back  to  an  Evangelical  position,  though  some  of  the 
ministers  are  Evangelical  in  what  to  us  Americans  would 
be  a  liberal  sense.    But  though  returning  to  orthodoxy  it 
is  not  the  orthodoxy  of  Calvinism.    Calvin  is  honored  at 
Geneva,  though  not  his  theology.     The  majority  hold  to 
a  simple  Evangelical  position.    The  strife  of  the  century 
has  been  so  severe  that  they  are  glad  to  unite  on  this 
basis,  and  the  differences  between  Calvinism  and  Armin- 
ianism  are  left  behind.    But  this  return  of  the  Church  of 
Geneva  after  a  divergence  from  orthodoxy  for  nearly 
200  years  is  one  of  the  most  remarkable  in  church  his- 
tory and  was  owing  to  the  faithful  witness  of  the  Evan- 
gelicals in  the  church  in  the  days  of  error  and  persecu- 
tion.    It  bodes  well  for  the  future. 

The  latest  development  of  the  National  Church  has 
been  disestablishment,  which  was  approved  in  1907,  after 
a  half  a  century  of  discussion,  by  a  vote  of  7,600  to 
6800  It  went  into  effect  1909-  The  Evangelicals  are 
hopeful  that  disestablishment  will  aid  them,  especially  as 
Rev  Mr  Thomas  has  returned  to  the  church  since  the 
disestablishment.  The  greatest  danger  to  Geneva  to-day 
is  not  rationalism  but  Catholicism,  its  adherents  having 
crowded  into  Geneva  from  the  surrounding  countries 
of  Savoy,  France  and  Italy,  until  it  is  said  they  form 
the  majority  in  the  canton. 

We  can  not  close  this  section  without  speaking  of  one 
who  was  a  great  apologist  for  Evangelical  Christianity 
in  the  last  half-century,  Prof.  Jules  Ernest  Naville.  Born 
December  13,  1816,  he  became  pastor  in  Geneva  and 
then  professor  of  philosophy.  When  the  radicals  gained 
control  of  the  government  in  1846  he  was  dismissed 
from  his  professorship.  But,  though  he  held  no  official 
position,  he  gained  a  far-reaching  influence  by  his  apolo- 


472  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

getical  lectures.  His  courses  on  "The  Heavenly  Father," 
"Christ,"  "Eternal  Life"  and  the  "Problem  of  Evil"  were 
attended  by  large  audiences,  sometimes  reaching  to  2,000. 
He  also  delivered  them  in  other  cities,  as  Lausanne,  to 
large  audiences.  These  lectures  were  remarkable  for 
their  depth  of  thought,  breadth  of  vision  and  profound 
Christian  faith.  At  the  Philosophical  Convention  at 
Geneva,  in  1904,  and  of  which  he  was  an  honorary  presi- 
dent, he  bore  a  warm  testimony  for  the  sacred  truths 
he  had  defended  for  so  many  years.  Aged  92,  he  died 
May  27,  1909. 


CHAPTER  II 
Vaud 

Section  i 

THE   PIETISTIC    MOVEMENTS   IN   THE   EARLY    PART   OF   THE 
NINETEENTH  CENTURY 

The  canton  of  Vaud  was  separated  from  Bern  in 
1798,  during  the  French  Revolution,  and  its  academy 
elevated  to  a  university  in  1806.     It,  unlike  Geneva,  had 
remained  true  to  its  orthodox  Calvinism,  but  much  of 
it  had  become  dead  orthodoxy.     A  revival  was  needed 
to   freshen  up  the  vitality  and  activity  of  the  church. 
In   Geneva  the   revival   was  opposed   by   the   National 
Church.     This  church  at  first  fostered  it  and  then  cast 
it  out,  ultimately  to  become  the  Free  Church  of  Vaud. 
To  some  extent  this  revival  was  caused  by  the  revival 
in  neighboring  Geneva,  although  the  Church  of  Vaud 
had  broken  with  the  National  Church  of  Geneva  on  ac- 
count of  the  latter's   divergence   from  orthodoxy,   and 
and  Curtat,  the  leader  of  the  Vaud  Church,  had  attacked 
Cheneviere's  book  for  its  heterodoxy.    Curtat  was  largely 
the  cause  of  the  revival  in  Vaud  and  also  its  bitter  oppo- 
nent.    Born   1759,  at  Lausanne,  he  became  first  pastor 
there  and  so  received  the  title  of  doyen  or  head  of  the 
church.     He   was  a  powerful   preacher,   profound   and 
full  of  unction.    As  professor  in  the  academy  he  exerted 
great  influence  on  the  piety  of  the  students  by  his  lec- 
tures on  the  Bible  and  thus  he  prepared  the  way  for  the 

revival. 

In  1814  a  Bible  society  was  organized  at  Lausanne, 
473 


474  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

also  a  Tract  Society,  in  which  two  English  ladies,  one  a 
Miss  Graves,  a  member  of  the  Anglican  Church,  were 
influential.  In  1821  a  Missionary  society  was  organized, 
but  was  soon  suppressed,  because  Curtat  attacked  it  as 
Methodistic.  All  these  movements  prepared  for  the  re- 
vival. But  it  was  Curtat's  attack  on  prayer  meetings 
(conventicles),  in  1821,  that  brought  the  crisis.  He  at- 
tacked them  as  illegal,  unsound  in  doctrine,  and  Metho- 
distic. One  can  hardly  forbear  a  smile  as  he  caps  his 
argument  against  the  holding  of  evening  services  by 
quoting  the  story  of  Eutychus  in  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles. 
Curtat  was  replied  to  by  the  pietists.  A  former  pas- 
tor of  the  Guernsey  Islands  replied  and  proved  that  the 
missionary  societies  of  England  had  not  brought  ruin 
to  the  church,  as  Curtat  had  prophesied.  Malan's  reply, 
"The  Conventicles  of  Rolle,"  contained  a  prayer  that 
God  would  have  mercy  on  Curtat  and  open  his  eyes.  Cur- 
tat replied  in  "New  Observations  on  Conventicles,"  1821. 
He  received  support  from  Vinet,  one  of  his  former  pupils 
and  admirers,  then  a  teacher  at  Basle,  who  published 
"Letter  to  Young  Ministers,"  1821,  in  which  he  attacked 
Malan's  reply.  The  ministers,  who  were  pietists  (mom- 
iers),  were  Augustus  Rochat,  M.  Olivier  and  his  two  sons, 
Juvet,  pastor  at  Isle ;  Alexander  Chavannes,  at  Aiibonne ; 
Firaz,  pastor  at  Orbe;  Dupraz,  at  Beguins.*  Juvet  and 
Chavannes  were  suspended.  F.  Olivier  was  refused  ordi- 
nation, but  later  got  it  from  the  Presbyterians  at  Glasgow. 
But  the  suspension  of  the  first  two  turned  out  unfortu- 
nately for  the  opponents  of  pietism,  for  as  these  ministers 
had  been  deprived  of  their  parishes,  they  gathered  at 
Lausanne  and  made  it  a  center  of  pietism  by  holding  con- 
venticles there.  The  government  then  (1822)  expelled 
Miss  Graves  for  distributing  tracts  and  holding  conven- 

*  For  a  full  history  of  these  revival  movements  see  "History 
of  the  Religious  and  Ecclesiastical  Movements  in  Canton  Vaud" 
(in  French),  by  Cart,  Lausanne. 


VAUD  475 

ticks,  although  she  protested  that  as  a  member  of  the 
Anglican    Church    she   was   opposed   to   all    separatism. 
She   went   to    Geneva.      While   the    churchly   ministers 
charged  the  pietists  with  Methodism,  they  in  turn  replied, 
by  charging  their  enemies  with  antinomianism  and  with 
making  conversion  only  a  moral  change.     The  pietists 
claimed  over  against  their  enemies  to  cling  closely  to  the 
old  Calvinistic  creed,  the  Second  Helvetic,  charging  their 
enemies  with  having  followed  Osterwald  in  his  departure 
from  the  doctrines  of  grace.     On  December  24,   1823, 
Alexander  Chavannes,  Henry  Juvet,  Francis  Olivier  de- 
clared their  secession  out  of  the  National  Church,  and 
brothers  Augustus  and   Charles   Rochat   followed  their 
example.     Finally,  on  May  20,  1824,  the  authorities  of 
the  canton  passed  a  law,  forbidding  under  pain  of  fine, 
imprisonment  and  banishment  all  prayer-meetings  as  con- 
trary to  public  order  because  they  declared  they  caused 
riots.     The  truth  was,  that  it  was  not  the  momiers  who 
caused  the  riots,  but  their  enemies,  led  on  by  the  lawless 
elements  of  the  community.     But  the  law  did  not  check 
pietism;  it  only  drove  the  pietists  out  of  the  National 
Church.     They  declared  themselves  separated  from  the 
state  church  and  kept  on  holding  conventicles.     For  this, 
A.  Rochat  was  banished  for  a  year,  Olivier  for  two  years, 
Chavannes  and  Juvet  for  three  years.     But  in  spite  of 
all  this,  the  conventicles  still  continued  at  Lausanne,  right 
under  the  eyes  of  the  authorities. 

But  the  law  produced  a  reaction  within  the  National 
Church.  On  November  17,  1824,  twenty-six  ministers 
presented  a  petition  to  the  grand  council,  protesting 
against  the  intolerance  of  the  law  against  conventicles. 
In  1825  an  Evangelical  society  was  organized  at  different 
places  by  the  members  of  the  National  Church.  And 
now  the  pietists  found  a  new  and  unexpected  defender. 
Vinet  reversed  his  previous  position,  when  he  had  stood 
with  Curtat  against  the  pietists,  by  protesting  against 


476  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

the  new  law  against  pietism.     He  published  his   "Me- 
morial in  Favor  of  Religious  Liberty." 

Section  2 
the  secession  of  the  free  church  of  vaud 

The  Free  Church  of  Vaud  separated  from  the  National 
Church  in  1845,  but  the  movements  that  led  to  it  were 
operative  many  years  before.  The  law  against  conven- 
ticles in  1824  was  looked  on  by  many,  especially  the  pious 
people  within  the  National  Church,  as  a  violation  of  re- 
ligious liberty  by  the  government,  which  had  become  a 
sort  of  Caesaro-papie, — the  secular  more  and  more  domi- 
nating the  spiritual.  In  1830  the  radicals  gained  control 
of  the  government,  and  in  1834  they  granted  religious 
liberty.  This  not  only  aided  the  pietists,  who  had  sep- 
arated from  the  National  Church,  but  also  produced  a 
revival  of  spirituality  in  the  National  Church  because  of 
the  larger  liberty  it  gave.  On  December  24,  1835,  Vaud 
followed  Geneva's  example  in  observing  the  tercentenary 
of  the  Reformation  and  over  against  the  rationalistic 
Genevan  Bible,  republished  at  that  time,  it  published  the 
Lausanne  Bible  in  French,  of  which  a  second  edition  was 
published  in  1849,  and  a  tmrd  m  l859- 

In  1839  a  new  crisis  occurred.  The  Helvetic  Con- 
fession was  abolished  and  the  church  was  reduced  from 
being  an  organic  whole  as  a  church  organization  to 
merely  separate  parishes,  each  under  the  control  of  the 
state.  An  excuse  for  setting  aside  the  Helvetic  Con- 
fession was  given,  namely,  that  the  Momiers  were  con- 
tinually appealing  to  it  in  their  defence.  But  the  real 
reason  was  a  desire  by  the  authorities  that  all  restraint 
as  to  doctrine  in  the  church  should  be  set  aside  and  that 
the  church  should  be  so  weakened  as  to  be  merely  an  arm 
of  the  state.  This  law  continued  in  force  till  1863  and 
it  was  the  controversies  caused  by  it,  in  which  the  state 


Prof.  Benedict  Pictet 


Prof.  Alexander   Vinet 


Prof.  Frederick  Godet 


PROMINENT     THEOLOGIANS 


VAUD  477 


over-rode  the  church,  that  led  to  the  secession  of  the 
Free  Church  in  1845.     In  l863  the  law  was  rePealed>  the 
state  having  by  that  time  learned  wisdom  to  its  own  cost 
at  the  loss  of  the  Free  Church.     In  the  reaction  against 
this  law  of  1839,  which  made  the  church  confessionless, 
several  ministers   at  once   resigned   from  the  National 
Church,  as  Burnier,  who  was  the  leader  for  religious 
liberty.     Vinet  also,  who  had  become  professor  of  the- 
ology at  Lausanne,  left  the  church  and  in  1842  published 
his  essay  on  the  "Separation  of  Church  and  State."    In 
December,  1844,  a  society  was  organized  at  Lausanne, 
favorable  to  disestablishment,  and  at  its  meeting  Vinet 
and  Burnier  delivered  addresses.     Thus  a  strong  party 
was  forming,  favorable  to  separation,  and  it  only  needed 
some  event  to  bring  on  a  crisis,  and  this  occurred  in  1845.* 
For  a  political   crisis  occurred,   in   which   the   extreme 
radicals,  led  by  Druey,  a  despot  and  demagogue,  came 
into  power.     Angered  against  the  ministers  because  they 
opposed  the  new  law,  he  ordered  that  the  pastors,  as 
officials  of  the  civil  government,  should  give  a  written 
statement  of  agreement  with  the  new  law.     A  revival 
occurred  in  1845  and  its  services  were  attacked  by  mobs 
in  certain  places,  as  Lausanne  and  Pully.     So  the  gov- 
ernment on  May  15,  1845,  forbade  the  ministers  to  take 
part  in  them  under  pain  of  fines.     But  this  old  law  of 
1824  did  not  fit  1845.     For  in  the  meanwhile,  pietism  had 
increased  and  become  part  of  the  life  of  the  National 
Church,  and  many  pastors  now  had  halls  in  addition  to 
their  churches,  in  which  such  evangelistic  services  were 
regularly  held  by  them.     So  a  meeting  of  the  ministers 
of  the  canton  was  held  at  Lausanne  May  26,  1845,  which 
sent  a  memorial  signed  by  150  ministers  out  of  221,  pro- 
testing against  such  oppression  on  the  freedom  of  the 
church.     The   council   pigeon-holed   this,   thus   virtually 
*  See  "The  Ecclesiastical  Crisis  in  Canton  Vaud"   (in  Ger- 
man), Zurich,  1846. 


478  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

rejecting  it.  Many  ministers  continued  holding  evangel- 
istic meetings  in  their  halls  and  the  council  brought 
charges  against  them  before  their  classes.  But  the  classes 
took  their  part  and  declared  them  innocent.  Thus  the 
church  was  set  up  against  the  state  and  the  issue  between 
them  was  forced. 

The  council  then  proceeded  to  add  insult  to  injury 
so  as  to  humiliate  them.  They  ordered  the  ministers  to 
read  a  proclamation  from  their  pulpits,  defending  the 
newly  proposed  constitution,  which  was  soon  to  be  voted 
on.  Druey  thus  proposed  to  force  an  issue,  at  least  he 
would  know  who  among  them  were  his  friends.  About 
forty  of  the  pastors  did  not  read  the  proclamation,  because 
they  declared  such  an  act  was  contrary  to  the  law  of 
1832.  Some  read  it  and  others  read  it  after  their  ser- 
vices, protesting,  however,  against  it  as  illegal.  At  St. 
Francis'  Church,  Lausanne,  many  of  the  people  left  the 
church  when  the  prefect  ascended  the  pulpit  to  read  it. 
The  authorities  then  entered  complaint  against  the  min- 
isters, who  refused  to  read  it,  before  the  classes.  But 
the  different  classes,  who  met  August  22,  sustained  the 
ministers,  only  two  ministers  in  the  classis  of  Morges 
opposing  this  action.  The  accused  pastors  then  carried 
the  case  up  to  the  courts,  which,  however,  decided  against 
them,  and  on  November  31,  1845,  thirty-seven  of  them 
were  suspended  by  the  government  for  a  month,  four, 
among  them  Bridel,  for  four  months  and  Descombes  for 
a  year,  because  he  had  not  only  refused  to  read  the  procla- 
mation, but  had  dismissed  his  congregation  so  that  it 
could  not  be  read  by  any  one  else.  This  suspension  of 
these  ministers  was  to  take  effect  on  November  10.  On 
November  9  the  suspended  ministers  bade  farewell  to 
their  congregations. 

A  meeting  of  the  ministers  was  held  at  Lausanne. 
November  11-12,  to  discuss  the  situation.  The  meeting 
revealed  that  there  were  three  parties  among  them : 


VAUD  479 

i.     Those   who   wanted   to   remain   in  the   National 
Church,  led  by  Chavannes. 

2.  Those  who  felt  there  was  nothing  to  do  but  to 
resign  their  parishes  and  leave  the  church,  led  by  Bridel. 

3.  A  middle  party,  who  wanted  to  give  the  state 
another  chance,  led  by  Baup. 

The  majority  voted  for  demission  en  masse  on  De- 
cember 15,  their  number  being  later  increased  to  185.     It 
does  not  seem  that  all  of  these  wanted  to  separate  from 
the  National  Church,  but  some  wanted  this  demission 
to  take  place,  hoping  it,  as  a  demonstration,  would  pro- 
duce a  reaction  when  the  state  realized  its  condition  al- 
most without  ministers.     But  the  state  took  advantage 
of  this  opportunity.     It  did  not  recede,  although  it  sent 
a  circular  to  them,  asking  them  to  return  to  the  National 
Church.     Thirty  returned,  later  their  number  being  in- 
creased to  forty-one,  when  they  found  that  their  congre- 
gations would  not  secede  with  them.     The  truth  was 
that  the  demission  of  the  Evangelical  pastors  did  not  find 
the  response  in  their  congregations  that  they  had  hoped. 
About  one  hundred  and  forty  ministers  went  out  of  the 
National  Church  and  only  eighty-nine  remained  in  that 
church.     But  the  council  soon  reorganized  the  National 
Church,  although  the  secession  crippled  her  so  that  for 
twenty  years  she  was  unable  to  properly  supply  the  needs 
of  the  people.     Some  of  her  ministers  had  as  many  as  six 
parishes  to  look  after.     The  authorities  issued  an  appeal 
to  other  lands  for  ministers,  and  a  number  came,  some 
good,  many  bad.     The  university  also  suffered,  as  well 
as  the  church.     Many  of  the  leading  professors  resigned 
(all  the  professors  of  theology,  except  one,  Dufournet), 
as   Monnard,   Secretan   and   Chappuis.     Of  the   twenty 
theological   students,   seventeen  left   and  went  into  the 
Free  Church.     The  Free  Church  thus  carried  with  it  a 
larger  proportion  of  the  university  than  of  the  people. 
The  action  of  these  Vaud  pastors  was  heroic.     They 


48o  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

gave  up  their  income  in  the  face  of  approaching  winter. 
The  wife  of  the  pastor  at  Motiers  said  to  her  husband, 
as  he  went  to  the  meeting  of  November  n,  "Forget  that 
you  have  a  wife  and  seven  children."  This  heroism 
astonished  the  Protestant  world.  From  all  parts  of  Eu- 
rope came  letters  of  sympathy  and  encouragement.  In 
Scotland  public  meetings  were  held  and  the  General  As- 
sembly of  the  Free  Church  sent  a  delegate  to  Geneva  to 
convey  their  sympathy.  Similar  addresses  came  from 
Germany  and  France.  Even  405  of  the  clergy  of  the 
Anglican  Church  sent  an  expression  of  sympathy  and 
admiration  to  them.  The  Zurich  ministers  sent  an  ad- 
dress, prepared  by  antistes  Fiissli,  and  subscribed  to  by 
seventy-three  ministers.  Rev.  Mr.  Baggesen,  as  presi- 
dent of  the  synod  of  the  canton  of  Bern,  also  sent  them 
a  letter  of  sympathy. 

Section  3 

prof.  alexander  rudolph  vinet 

Professor  Vinet*  was  one  of  the  leaders  of  his  day, 
both  in  theology  and  literature,  and  in  the  movements 
for  religious  liberty.  He  was,  perhaps,  the  finest  critic 
of  his  day  on  French  literature.  He  has  been  called  by 
his  admirers  in  different  lands  the  "Pascal  of  Protestant- 
ism," the  "French  Chalmers,"  and  the  "Schleiermacher 
of  French  theology."  Born  at  Ouchy,  the  port  of  Lau- 
sanne, June  17,  1797,  his  father  wanted  him  to  study 
theology,  while  he  preferred  literature.  He  early  wrote 
poetry,  as  the  patriotic  song,  "The  Revival  of  the  Vau- 
dois,"  1814,  which  became  popular.  But  he  was  severely 
criticised  for  doing  so  by  his  father.  It  has  been  sug- 
gested that  perhaps  it  was  his  father's  severity  toward 

*  See  Lane's  "The  Life  and  Writings  of  Alexander  Vinet" 
(1890),  and  Rambert's  "Alexander  Vinet,  Histoires  de  sa  vie  et 
de  ses  ouvrages"  (1876). 


VAUD  481 

him  in  early  life  that  produced  his  reaction  in  later  life 
and  made  him  the  champion  of  individual  liberty.     When 
he  had  finished  his  course  of  study  at  Lausanne,  he  was 
called  to  Basle  (1817)  through  an  incident.    Monnard,  a 
friend  of  his,  presented  himself  as  a  candidate  for  the  va- 
cant professorship  of  French  literature  at  Lausanne.   At 
Monnard's  examination  for  that  place,  Vinet  objected  to 
some  of  his  statements,  which  so  disgusted  his  father 
that  the  latter  left  the  room.     But  Monnard  was  so  im- 
pressed by  the  truth  of  Vinet's  criticisms,  that  he  recom- 
mended Vinet  to  a  position  of  teacher  in  Basle.     There 
De  Wette  introduced  him  to  German  theology  and  he 
was  at  first  captivated  by  De  Wette's  learning  and  scien- 
tific method,  though  he  complained  to  Monnard  (1818) 
how  greatly  troubled  he  was  with  doubts.     "The  Hours 
of  Devotion,"  by  the  rationalist  Zschokke,  was  at  that 
time  a  favorite  book  of  his.     In   1819  he  returned  to 
Lausanne  to  be  ordained,  though  he  later  regretted  his 
thoughtlessness  at  such  a  sacred  rite.     It  was  a  severe 
illness   (1823-24)   that  brought  him  nigh  to  death,  and 
from  which  he  never  after  fully  regained  his  health,  that 
he  regarded  as  the  turning-point  of  his  life.     His  con- 
version was  intellectual  and  ethical  rather  than  dogmatic, 
but   nevertheless   real.     After   it   there   came   to   him   a 
spirituality  born  out  of  real  religious  experience.     Writ- 
ing to  a  friend,  he  said :  "The  neologues  who  transform 
religion  into  philosophy  inspire  me  with  aversion."     His 
faith  was  greatly  strengthened  at  the  time  by  Erskine 
of    Scotland's   work,   "Evidences   of   the   Truth   of   the 
Christian  Salvation."     After  his  conversion  he  broke  with 
De  Wette.     He  refused  to  translate  De  Wette's  ethics 
into  French,  because  he  said  De  Wette  could  demolish 
to  perfection,  but  no  one  could  see  what  it  built  up.     A 
religion  which  conceived  of  the   facts  of  revelation  as 
mere  symbols  did  not  satisfy  him. 

We  have  already  noted  his  change  of  attitude  to  the 

31 


482  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

pietists.  Originally  their  narrowness  seemed  opposed  to 
his  breadth  of  thought.  When  he  first  came  to  Basle, 
he  wrote:  "This  town  is  full  of  pietists.  If  ever  I  have 
any  power,  moral  or  political,  I  will  spare  no  pains  to 
disperse  this  nest  of  presumptuous  sectarians."  And 
when  he  saw  that  De  Wette,  from  whom  he  had  learned 
so  much,  was  called  a  heretic,  and  even  antichrist  by  the 
pietists  of  Basle,  he  the  more  turned  against  pietism 
and  the  Basle  Mission  House.  He  had  great  regard  for 
his  teacher,  Curtat,  and  especially  resented  Malan's 
prayer  for  Curtat's  conversion.  But  little  did  this  youth 
dream  that  he  would  become  the  great  defender  of  the 
pietists  in  their  persecutions.  For  as  the  persecutions 
against  the  Momiers  increased  in  Vaud,  he  became  di- 
vided in  his  sentiments,  on  the  one  hand  disliking  the 
narrowness  of  the  pietists,  and  on  the  other  indignant  at 
the  intolerance  of  Vaud  against  them.  After  the  law 
of  May  20,  1824,  had  been  enacted  in  Vaud,  he  came  out 
boldly  for  religious  liberty  in  his  pamphlet  "Respect  of 
Opinions."  As  it  at  first  appeared  anonymously  it  was 
supposed  to  have  been  written  by  a  Momier.  The  change 
in  him  was  due  in  part  to  the  religious  change  that  had 
come  over  him  as  he  passed  from  merely  formal  religi- 
ousness to  a  positive  and  personal  faith. 

In  1826  he  gained  great  fame  by  receiving  the  prize 
over  twenty-nine  competitors  for  the  best  essay  on  "Free- 
dom of  Culture,"  which  was  offered  by  the  "Paris  So- 
ciety of  Christian  Ethics."  In  it  he  held  that  liberty  of 
conscience  was  the  right  of  the  individual  and  liberty  of 
worship  the  right  of  the  community,  because  religion  was 
an  affair  between  man  and  his  God.  Faith  did  not  have 
its  root  in  the  intellect,  as  the  rationalists  hold,  but  in  the 
conscience.  Conscience  is  the  personality.  The  state 
had  no  right  to  force  the  conscience.  Faith  is  a  free  act 
and  liberty  of  conscience  must  be  maintained.  The  essay 
created  a  great  sensation  in  Switzerland  and  proved  to  be 


VAUD  483 

the  trumpet  voice  to  wake  up  the  Church  of  Vaud.     In 
1829  he  published  his  "French  Anthology,"  a  masterpiece, 
by  which  he  rose  to  be  considered  one  of  the  best  critics 
of  French  literature   in  his   day.     His   sermons   in   the 
French  church  at  Basle  added  to  his  reputation— they 
were  so  intellectual  and  spiritual  and  yet  so  classic  in  form. 
In  1829  he  placed  his  friend  Monnard,  at  Lausanne,  in 
an  awkward  situation,  by  his  defence  of  an  evangelist 
in  Vaud,  who  was  arrested  for  holding  a  prayer-meeting, 
and  when  released,  was  attacked  by  a  mob.     For  publish- 
ing this  defense,  the  authorities  suspended  Monnard  from 
the  ministry  for  one  year,  and  Vinet  for  two  years,  and 
fined  him  80  francs.     But  sympathy  came  to  Monnard 
and  himself  from  all  sides. 

But  all  this  persecution  only  roused  Vinet.     In  1830 
he  published  two  brochures,   "The   Intolerance  of   the 
Gospel,"  and  "The  Tolerance  of  the  Gospel."     In  that 
year  he  had  several  calls  elsewhere.     Montauban  wanted 
him —indeed  called  him  three  times.     The  newly-founded 
theological  seminary  at  Geneva  called  him.     But  he  de- 
clined them  all.    He  also  wrote  (1830)  "Some  Ideas  of 
Religious  Liberty,"  in  which  he  made  religious  liberty, 
not  only  a  right  as  he  had  done  before,  but  a  necessity. 
As  Vaud  was  at  that  time  discussing  the  independence  of 
the  church,  Curtat  published  a  pamphlet,  declaring  that 
the  independence  of  the  church  would   result  in  civil 
war  and  the  destruction  of  the  state.     How  far  the  teacher 
and  pupil  had  drifted  apart  by  this  time.     Basle  began 
to  realize  his  worth  and  in  1833  he  was  made  professor 
of  French  literature  there.     The  next  year  he  was  called 
three  times  to  Frankfort-on-the-Main  in  Germany,  but 

refused.  t 

In  1837  he  finally  accepted,  after  a  twenty  years  stay 
at  Basle,  the  professorship  of  pastoral  theology  at  Lau- 
sanne. At  once  he  became  a  leader  in  Vaud,  as  he  had 
never  been  at  Basle.     He  was  elected  by  the  classis  of 


484  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

Lausanne  a  member  of  the  assembly  to  prepare  the  church 
constitution  in  1839,  when  the  government  set  aside  the 
Second  Helvetic  Confession.  He  bitterly  opposed  it,  not 
because  he  considered  it  a  perfect  creed,  but  he  preferred 
that  creed  to  no  creed.  Because  the  law  set  aside  the 
Helvetic  Confession,  he  resigned  from  the  ministry  of 
the  National  Church  in  1840,  but  he  continued  to  lecture 
in  the  university.  In  1842  he  published  his  "Essay  on 
the  Manifestation  of  Religious  Conviction,"  another 
trumpet-blast  for  religious  liberty.  In  1844  he  resigned 
the  chair  of  practical  theology  to  later  enter  the  Free 
Church. 

In  1845  tne  revolution,  long  foretold  by  him,  broke 
out  and  the  Free  Church  seceded  as  we  have  seen.  He 
was  not  the  father  of  the  Free  Church,  and  yet  he  was, — 
that  is  he  was  not  among  the  ministers  who  seceded  from 
the  National  Church  in  1845,  because  he  had  already 
gone  out  in  1840.  But  in  fact  he  was  the  father  of  the 
Free  Church,  for  that  movement  was  the  ultimate  result 
of  his  continued  defence  of  religious  liberty.  Soon  after 
the  ministers  had  gone  out  of  the  National  Church,  he 
joined  himself  to  them,  although  their  position  was  not 
exactly  that  of  his  own.  They  did  not  place  individuality 
as  fundamentally  as  he  wanted  them  to  do.  Nor  did  he 
consider  that  so  small  a  thing  as  the  reading  of  a  procla- 
mation was  a  sufficient  cause  for  such  a  radical  separation 
from  the  church.  His  idea  was  that  if  they  were  going 
out  of  the  National  Church,  they  ought  to  have  done  so 
in  1839,  when  the  Helvetic  Confession  was  set  aside. 
But  he  soon  realized  that,  after  all,  it  had  come  as  the 
result  of  his  defence  of  individual  and  religious  liberty, 
and  so  he  entered  heartily  into  it  as  far  as  his  wretched 
health  would  permit. 

He  was  present  at  the  initial  meeting  of  the  Free 
Church  ministers,  March  29,  1846,  and  rejoiced  at  the 
organization  of  the  first  synod,  November  10,  1846.     He 


VAUD  485 

was  a  member  of  the  committee  to  frame  the  constitution, 
many  of  whose  sessions  were  held  at  his  house,  so  as  to 
get  the  benefit  of  his  advice.  When  the  question  of  a 
new  creed  came  up,  Vinet,  although  he  had  favored  the 
retention  of  the  Helvetic  Confession  in  1839,  now  favored 
a  new  creed.  He  prepared  some  articles  of  it,  but  his 
colleagues  added  several  doctrinal  statements,  as  his  ar- 
ticles did  not  express  themselves  sufficiently  on  the 
trinity  and  inspiration.  This  new  creed  of  the  Free 
Church  of  Vaud  was  remarkable  for  its  brevity  and  com- 
prehensiveness. Its  brevity  placed  it  quite  in  contrast 
with  the  elaborate  creeds  of  the  Reformation. 

But  his  increasing  illness  led  him  to  give  up  lecturing 
to  the  students  January  28,  1847.  He  was  removed  to 
Clarens,  east  of  Lausanne,  April  19,  in  the  hope  of  re- 
covery. There  in  the  room,  which  it  is  said  Byron  once 
occupied,  he  died  May  4,  1847.  He  lived  just  long 
enough  to  see  his  ideas  of  religious  liberty  put  into  an 
objective  and  permanent  form,  in  the  existence  of  the 
Free  Church  of  Vaud.  Of  Vinet,  Pressense  says,  "Vin- 
et's  undying  service  was  that  in  the  realm  of  the  French 
language,  he  transplanted  religion  out  of  the  realm  of  the 
abstract  into  that  of  life,  and  found  in  the  testimony  of 
our  own  hearts  the  strongest  apology  for  revelation." 
Through  him  Protestantism  gained  a  place  in  French 
literature.  He  was  the  French  Schleiermacher.  His 
stay  at  Basle  had  enabled  him  to  become  the  bridge  be- 
tween German  and  French  theological  thought.  He 
adopted  Schleiermacher's  Mediating  Theology  and 
adapted  it  to  the  French  mind.  He  was  not  a  Calvinist 
in  theology.  With  him  predestination  was  not  funda- 
mental. Not  the  sovereignty  of  God,  but  the  individual- 
ity of  man,  was  fundamental.  Vinet,  like  Schleiermacher, 
made  religion  a  life  rather  than  a  doctrine,— it  was  vital 
Christianity.  He  held  to  the  dynamic  conception  of 
Christianity  in  opposition  to  the  intellectual  conception. 


486  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

"The  religion  of  the  Gospel,"  he  says,  "is  a  force,  it  is 
not  a  system  of  reasoning.  It  is  a  fact  that  takes  pos- 
session of  the  heart  and  prevails  over  the  acts." 

But  while  Vinet  was  the  French  Schleiermacher,  he 
added  something  to  the  latter's  system,  namely,  his  em- 
phasis on  the  ethical.  He  was  emphatically  an  ethical 
theologian.  His  center  was  conscience,  and,  therefore,  he 
emphasized  individualism.  He  went  to  such  an  extreme 
in  this  that  his  favorite  phrase  was  "Faith  is  a  Work," 
meaning  by  it  the  necessity  of  the  union  of  faith  with 
works.  In  the  Christian  religion,  he  said,  all  is  moral. 
But  here  he  separated  himself  from  all  Evangelical  the- 
ology, for  Scripture  says  of  faith,  "It  is  the  gift  of  God." 
Eph.  2 : 8.  One  can  so  far  exaggerate  the  moral  as  to 
conceal  the  Evangelical.  But  Vinet  was  not  so  much  a 
theologian  as  a  litterateur.  He  was  suggestive  rather 
than  systematic.  He  gave  an  impulse  to  thought,  rather 
than  defined  it  in  its  relations.  There  was  less  of  the 
logical  than  one  would  expect  in  a  theologian,  and  more 
of  the  rhetorical  in  style  and  poetical  in  thought.  But 
this  literary  finish  and  poetical  insight  gave  him  a  pe- 
culiar breadth  of  thought,  as  it  was  coupled  with  beauty 
of  style. 

His  "Practical  Theology"  is  also  important.  Palmer, 
the  great  German  professor  of  practical  theology,  places 
it  beside  Harm's  and  Luther's.  His  "Homiletics"  is 
called  by  Von  Zeschwitz,  another  great  German  author- 
ity, the  best  and  most  suggestive.  Vinet  gave  an  inspira- 
tion to  theological  thought  in  all  French  lands.  Like 
Schleiermacher,  he  led  many  from  rationalism  back  to 
faith.  His  views  became  so  popular  among  the  pastors 
of  Geneva,  that  what  Haldane  and  Malan  were  not 
able  to  do,  he  did, — he  brought  many  of  the  pastors  back 
toward  orthodoxy. 


VAUD  487 

Section  4 
history  of  the  free  church  of  vaud* 

The  assembly  held  November  11-12,  1845,  had  ap- 
pointed a  committee  to  prepare  a  project  for  the  re- 
organization of  the  church,  either  in  case  it  renewed  its 
relations  to  the  state,  or  if  it  became  a  Free  Church. 
They  addressed  a  proclamation  to  their  parishes,  stating 
that  as  a  union  with  the  state  was  impossible,  it  was 
their  desire  to  organize  a  free  church,  but  one  faithful 
to  the  principles  of  their  fathers.  On  December  19,  as 
the  state  remained  firm  against  their  return,  they  issued 
an  appeal  for  funds.  On  that  day  31,381  francs  were 
subscribed,  which  by  a  year  later  was  swelled  to  180,000 
francs  ($36,000),  from  all  lands,  of  which  one-third  was 
given  by  Vaud,  one-third  by  the  eight  Protestant  cantons 
of  Switzerland,  and  one-third  by  foreign  lands,  the  King 
of  Prussia  giving  $2,400. 

After  the  secession,  as  they  were  refused  the  use  of 
the  churches,  they  preached  in  the  oratoires  or  preaching- 
halls  they  had  formerly  used.  But  the  state  forbade  all 
religious  meetings  outside  of  the  state  church.  They 
nevertheless  continued  to  hold  services  in  the  halls,  but 
their  meetings  were  sometimes  broken  into  by  mobs,  and 
the  pastors  frequently  found  themselves  in  the  hands  of 
the  police,  and  under  arrest  for  breaking  the  law.  On 
July  8,  a  central  committee  of  these  dissenters  was  con- 
stituted. It  ordained  eight  students  to  the  ministry  and 
organized  twenty-two  parishes.  A  school  of  theology 
was  provided  at  the  request  of  the  theological  students, 
with  Chapuis,  Secretan  and  Herzog  as  professors.  The 
first  preliminary  convention  was  held  in  November,  1846, 
at  which  thirty-three  parishes  reported.     It  appointed  a 

*  See  "Histoire  des  Cinquante  premieres  annees  de  l'Eglise 
evangelique  du  Canton  de  Vaud,"  par  Cart,  Lausanne  (1897). 


488  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

committee  to  prepare  a  constitution.  The  second  pre- 
liminary convention  was  held  February  23,  1847,  which 
adopted  a  constitution  and  a  creed.  The  Free  Church 
was  formally  organized  on  March  12,  1847.  The  ^rst 
regular  synod  was  held  June  8,  1847.  Owing  to  perse- 
cutions and  police  regulations,  it  met  clandestinely  at  the 
country  home  of  a  layman.  But  by  1849  the  pastors  of 
the  two  churches,  National  and  Free,  became  so  cordial 
to  each  other  that  they  together  formed  a  branch  of 
the  Swiss  Preachers'  Society.  By  1851  religious  liberty 
existed,  in  fact,  though  not  yet  by  law.  By  1854  the 
Free  Church  had  thirty-nine  congregations,  3,400  com- 
municants and  1,500  persons  beside,  who  though  still 
members  of  the  National  Church,  yet  frequented  their 
worship  regularly. 

Having  been  born  out  of  a  revival,  the  Free  Church 
gave  expression  to  its  sympathy  with  revivals  elsewhere 
as  in  Scotland  and  the  United  States  in  1857,  and  later 
(1875)  with  the  Moody  and  Sankey  meetings  in  Scot- 
land. One  of  its  first  efforts  was  to  appoint  a  commit- 
tee on  evangelization  and  it  was  soon  busy  with  evan- 
gelization in  its  canton  and  elsewhere,  opening  preaching- 
stations  as  in  the  Catholic  cantons  of  Valais  and  Frei- 
burg, and  at  Thonon  and  Evian  in  France,  on  the  south- 
ern coast  of  Lake  Geneva.  It  expressed  itself  frequently 
as  in  sympathy  with  all  bodies  struggling  for  religious 
liberty,  and  it  entered  into  fraternal  relations  with  other 
Evangelical  and  Free  Churches.  It  also  joined  the 
"Alliance  of  the  Reformed  Church  holding  the  Presby- 
terian System."  It  proved  to  be  an  active,  aggressive 
church,  exerting  a  religious  influence  far  beyond  its  num- 
bers or  limits. 

Its  theological  school  has  had  an  interesting  history 
and  exerted  an  important  influence.  Vinet  soon  died,  and 
Herzog  was  called  away  to  Halle.  This  produced  a  crisis 
and   some  of  the  ministers,   for  the   sake   of  economy, 


VAUD 


489 


wanted  their  students  to  be  sent  to  the  Evangelical  Theo- 
logical School  at  Geneva.  But  the  church  decided  to 
have  its  own  theological  school,  and  it  was  opened  No- 
vember 14,  1847.  Vulliemin  took  Herzog's  place  as 
professor  of  church  history,  later  followed  by  Cart,  who 
has  written  so  extensively  and  excellently  on  the  history 
of  the  Vaud  churches.  By  i860  the  number  of  students 
had  increased  to  thirty-five,  by  1868  to  sixty-seven. 
The  leader  among  the  theological  faculty  was  Samuel 
Chappuis.  He  had  been,  with  Vinet,  the  strongest  pro- 
fessor in  the  theological  faculty  before  the  Free  Church 
seceded,  and  he  was  the  strong  man  of  the  Free  Church. 
He  studied  at  Lausanne,  where  he  was  converted  at  one 
of  the  pietistic  meetings  of  the  brothers  Olivier.  He 
then  studied  at  Heidelberg  and  became  assistant  at  the 
French  church  at  Basle.  This  gave  him  a  fine  acquain- 
tance with  the  German  theological  thought.  After  two 
years  at  Berlin,  he  returned  to  Lausanne  (1837)  and 
though  young,  was  made  professor  of  dogmatics  in  the 
university.  He  was  at  Lausanne  when  the  pastors  re- 
fused to  read  the  proclamation  and  approved  of  their 
action.  But  he  was  not  present  at  the  meeting  of  No- 
vember 11-12,  as  he  was  at  that  time  in  France,  laboring 
for  its  Evangelization  Society.  Though  absent  from  that 
meeting,  he  was  named  as  a  member  of  the  committee 
to  reorganize  the  church,  he  and  Vinet  being  its  most 
influential  members.  He  was  frequently  made  president 
of  the  synod  and  often  sent  by  it  on  deputations,  as'  to  the 
Free  Church  of  France  and  to  the  Evangelical  Alliance 
at  Berlin,  in  1857.  He  always  emphasized  evangeliza- 
tion and  defended  Evangelicalism.  One  of  his  last  acts, 
though  unwell,  was  to  publicly  reply  (1869)  to  the  ra- 
tionalistic Buisson,  in  his  attacks  on  the  Old  Testament. 
He  soon  after  died,  April  3,  1870.  He  was  not  con- 
fessional in  his  theology,  but  like  Vinet,  an  adherent  of 
Schleiermacher's  mediating  theology,  with,  however,  an 


49° 


THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 


emphasis  on  the  ethical  and  the  individual.  The  Chris- 
tian consciousness  of  the  mediating  theology  he  developed 
into  an  emphasis  on  the  inner  life. 

It  was  after  his  death  that  troubles  began  to  brew. 
At  the  synod  of  1871,  one  of  the  members  of  synod 
raised  questions  about  the  orthodoxy  of  the  school.  This 
was  caused  by  the  writings  of  Professor  Astie.  His  book 
published  in  1869,  on  "The  Bible  and  Liberalism,"  had 
caused  apprehension.  A  Frenchman  by  birth,  he  had 
studied  at  Geneva,  and  later  been  pastor  of  the  French 
congregation  in  New  York.  He  was  elected  (1858)  as 
extraordinary  professor  and  as  ordinary  professor  in 
1865.  Four  times  his  peculiar  views  came  before  the 
synod.  But  he  always  declared  that  he  accepted  the 
creed  of  the  Free  Church  of  Vaud.  He  had  been  a 
pupil  of  Scherer's,  at  Geneva,  but  was  at  first  inclined 
to  be  more  positive.  But  then  he  veered  to  the  new  the- 
ology and  caused  great  anxiety  by  his  attacks  on  the 
inspiration  of  the  Bible  and  the  pre-existence  of  Christ. 
In  1875  several  pamphlets  appeared  against  him.  A  ser- 
mon by  him  in  1876  gave  rise  to  new  complaints,  as  did 
his  annual  address  at  the  theological  school  as  president, 
1876-77,  on  "The  Faith  of  the  Free  Church  of  Vaud,  its 
Past,  Present  and  Future."  In  1891  the  matter  came  up 
again  because  some  congregations  protested  against  his 
utterances  at  Chexbres,  in  August,  1891.  The  synod, 
May,  1892,  declared  his  explanation  of  his  views  were 
insufficient,  censured  not  his  opinions  but  his  manner  of 
expressing  them,  and  passed  a  strong  resolution,  adhering 
to  the  old  Reformed  doctrines  of  the  church.  He  died 
in  1892.  This  Astie  controversy  had  an  unfortunate 
effect.  Before  it,  it  had  been  the  glory  of  the  Free 
Church  that  Free  Churchism  was  a  bulwark  against  het- 
erodoxy. But  because  of  Astie's  views,  some  began  to 
lose  faith  in  Free  churchism.  It  seems  that  Ritschli- 
anism  had  entered  the  Free  Church  Theological  School. 


VAUD 


49 1 


Vinet's  theology  had  been  the  bridge  for  the  introduc- 
tion of  the  mediating  theology  of  Germany  to  enter  the 
French  churches.  But  his  ethical  emphasis  also  pre- 
pared the  way  for  the  later  introduction  of  the  Ritschlian 
theology  of  Germany,  with  its  emphasis  on  the  kingdom 
of  God.  This  theology  added  to  Vinet  a  denial  of  Christ's 
pre-existence  and  of  the  full  deity  of  Christ. 

Another  prominent  member  of  the  Free  Church  of 
Vaud  also  deserves  mention,  though  not  a  professor  of 
theology,  Charles  Secretan,  who  had  been  professor  of 
philosophy  at  Lausanne  University,  until  the  radicals 
came  into  power  in  1845.  But  though  no  longer  pror 
fessor,  he  delivered  private  lectures  till  1850,  when  he 
was  called  to  the  Academy  of  Neuchatel.  He  returned 
to  Lausanne  (1866)  and  died  there  (1895).  Originally 
a  follower  of  Vinet  in  his  individualism,  he  became  more 
and  more  speculative,  uniting  Kant  with  Vinet  in  a  the- 
ology based  on  ethical  consciousness.  He  held  stead- 
fastly to  two  principles,  freedom  and  duty.  Increasingly 
indifferent  to  dogma  as  compared  with  morals,  he  re- 
jected miracles,  inspiration,  the  vicarious  atonement  and 
eternal  punishment.  By  his  philosophical  principles  he 
laid  the  foundations  of  the  modern  liberal  theology  of 
France,  led  by  Sabatier. 

Section  5 
the  mission  romande* 

The  Free  Church  of  Vaud  being  an  Evangelistic 
Church,  easily  became  interested  in  Foreign  Missions. 
At  first  it  sent  its  missionary  contributions  to  the  mis- 
sionary societies  of  Paris  and  Basle.  But  in  1869  a 
challenge  came  to  it  as  a  church.  At  its  synod,  Paul 
Berthoud  and  Ernst  Creux,  two  students  in  their  theo- 

*  See  "Les  Negres  Guambe,"  by  Paul  Berthoud. 


492 


THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 


logical  school,  requested  the  synod  to  send  them  as  mis- 
sionaries to  the  heathen.  In  their  letter,  they  say:  "To 
whom  shall  we  go  rather  than  to  the  church  to  which 
we  belong?  We  will  go  wherever  you  wish  us — to  the 
tropics  in  the  south  or  to  the  regions  of  ice  in  the  north. 
Speak,  command,  and  we  will  obey."  But  the  synod 
hesitated  to  undertake  a  foreign  mission  of  its  own  on 
account  of  its  smallness.  Then  the  Paris  Missionary 
Society,  hearing  of  the  desire  of  these  young  men,  asked 
the  Free  Church  of  Vaud,  "Why  do  you  hold  back  the 
young  men  so  long,  send  them  to  us."  So  the  synod  of 
1870  decided  to  send  them  out  under  the  Paris  Missionary 
Society,  and  they  sailed  in  1872  for  South  Africa.  When 
they  arrived  at  South  Africa,  Mabille,  one  of  the  mis- 
sionaries of  the  Paris  Missionary  Society,  had  just  re- 
turned from  a  visit  to  the  Ma-Guamba,  who  numbered 
about  10,000,  in  the  northern  Transvaal.  The  Paris 
Missionary  Society  felt  itself  too  weak  to  undertake  this 
new  field,  and  so  appealed  to  the  Free  Church  of  Vaud 
to  do  so.  So  the  synod  of  1874  decided  to  take  that  field. 
In  July,  Berthoud  and  Creux  founded  the  mission  at 
Spelonken,  which  they  renamed  Valdesia,  after  Vaud. 
Hardly  had  the  mission  begun  to  get  on  its  feet  when, 
in  1876,  it  was  threatened  with  destruction,  as  the  Trans- 
vaal government  forbade  its  missionaries  to  preach  to  the 
natives,  because  it  said  they  had  no  express  permission 
to  do  so  from  the  government  at  Pretoria.  The  mis- 
sionaries refused  to  obey,  and  on  August  2  they  were 
arrested  and  taken  to  Marabasted,  leaving  their  wives  and 
children  in  the  midst  of  a  native  war.  After  a  month's 
imprisonment  they  were  finally  liberated,  and  on  Septem- 
ber 9  they  returned  to  Valdesia,  permission  being  granted 
to  them  to  preach  to  the  natives,  provided  they  took 
the  oath  to  the  Transvaal  government.  They  had  hardly 
returned  when  their  first  baptism  took  place,  October  1, 
1876,  and  by  the  end  of  1878  forty  had  been  baptized 


VAUD  493 

In  1877  the  Transvaal  came  under  the  dominion  of  Great 
Britain.     In  1879  they  opened  a  new  station,  Elim.     In 
1883  the  Free  Churches  of  Geneva  and  Neuchatel  united 
with  the  Free  Church  of  Vaud,  in  the  support  of  this 
mission.     In  1885  Leresche  was  made  secretary  of  the 
society  and  lived  at  Lausanne,  and  in  1895,  Grandjean. 
The  church  at  Elim  opened  a  new  station  at  Delagoa  Bay 
in   1882,  calling  it  Antioch,  because  founded  and  sup- 
ported by  converted  natives.     Another  station  was  opened 
at  Lorenzo  Marques.     From  1888  to  1898  the  mission 
suffered   through    the   wars   and   political   dangers,   but 
in  1899  it  had  2,000  members,  of  whom  1,200  were  at 
or  near  Lorenzo  Marques.     The  mission,  therefore,  has 
two  fields,  one  at  Transvaal,  and  the  other  at  Lorenzo 
Marques,  in  Portuguese  Africa.     By  1895  the  New  Testa- 
ment was  translated  into  the  language  of  the  Ma-Guamba, 
and  published  at  Lausanne.     In  191 1  the  society  reported 
12   stations,    157   native   teachers,   2,530   corhmunicants, 
80    schools,    with    2,853    Pupils-      The    society    received 
in  191 1  $63,400. 


CHAPTER  III 

Neuchatel 

Section  i 
its  history  in  the  early  part  oe  the  nineteenth 

CENTURY 

The  church  of  Neuchatel  differed  from  every  other 
Protestant  church  in  Switzerland,  in  that  it  was  separate 
from  the  state.  This  was  due  to  the  fact  that  when 
founded  by  Farel  in  the  Reformation,  its  ruling  family 
was  Catholic.  When  the  land  came  under  the  rule  of  the 
King  of  Prussia,  in  1707,  he  conceded  to  the  church  its 
old  autonomy  and  this  was  continued  in  the  early  part  of 
the  nineteenth  century. 

The  revival  at  Geneva  had  but  slightly  affected  Neu- 
chatel, whose  clergy  were  orthodox,  but  formal.  Neu- 
chatel in  general  was  more  tolerant  of  pietists  than  Bern 
or  Vaud,  but  there  was  one  case  of  oppression.  A  school- 
master named  Magnin  was  exiled  for  ten  years  for  hold- 
ing prayer-meetings  and  celebrating  the  Lord's  Supper. 
This  the  government  later  regretted.  As  a  result  of  this 
movement,  an  independent  congregation  was  organized  in 
1828. 

But  though  the  church  had  had  its  autonomy  guar- 
anteed by  Prussia,  the  nineteenth  century  witnessed  re- 
peated efforts  to  wrest  this  from  her,  until  she  was  finally 
made  an  arm  of  the  state.  The  first  attempt  occurred 
in  1838  in  connection  with  the  reorganization  of  the 
university  at  Neuchatel.  The  classis  of  Neuchatel  had 
always  nominated  their  professors  of  theology.     But  now 

494 


NEUCHATEL  495 

the  state  evidently  wanted  to  get  that  right  from  her. 
When  the  university  was  erected,  the  Prussian  govern- 
ment organized  all  the  departments  but  the  theological. 
Then  she  began  gradually  introducing  that.  In  1840 
the  state  council  nominated  Petavel  to  the  chair  of  phil- 
ology, and  he  began  to  give  courses  of  lectures  on  exe- 
gesis of  the  New  Testament.  This  was  the  entering 
wedge  to  get  the  theological  department  of  the  university 
under  the  state's  control  and  away  from  the  church.  The 
classis  asked  that  if  the  subject  of  his  lectures  was  to  be 
a  religious  one,  they  be  allowed  to  choose  the  teacher 
Two  or  three  years  later  the  state  council  nominated 
Montvert,  a  professor  of  oratory  for  the  theological 
students.  The  classis  then  protested.  In  1842  the  state 
nominated  a  third  theological  professor,  Perrot.  Thus 
the  state  was  shrewdly  trying  to  get  control  of  the  theo- 
logical education  of  the  canton,  while  the  classis  was  un- 
willing to  give  it  up. 

In  1848  the  political  revolution  occurred,  which  freed 
Neuchatel  from  Prussia.  As  the  pastors  had  opposed 
the  revolution,  a  crisis  arose  similar  to  that  which  had 
taken  place  in  Vaud.  Steck,  one  of  the  councillors,  drew 
up  a  law  by  which  the  classis  would  be  entirely  sup- 
pressed. But  there  were  prudent  men  in  the  state  affairs, 
who  did  not  want  a  disruption  such  as  had  occurred  in 
the  Church  of  Vaud.  A  compromise  was  arranged,  by 
which  the  state  took  possession  of  the  old  funds  of  the 
church,  which  amounted  to  46,000  francs,  and  from  which 
one-quarter  of  the  pastor's  salaries  were  paid.  It,  how- 
ever, left  to  the  church  her  autonomy.  This  decision  was 
repugnant  to  the  pastors,  for  they  felt  the  church  was 
robbed  of  its  funds;  but  they  accepted  it  lest,  if  they  op- 
posed, they  might  seem  open  to  the  charge  of  being 
royalists,  and  thus  make  the  church  unpopular.  And  yet 
the  state  also  infringed  on  the  rights  of  the  church  by 
a  new  law,  that  if  the  parish  refused  to  nominate  a  min- 


496  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

ister,  the  state  could  present  a  candidate.  In  this  new 
law  lay  the  possibility  that  produced  the  Free  Church 
of  Neuchatel  in  1873,  though  from  1858  to  1868  all  was 
quiet. 

Section  2 
the  free  church  oe  neuchatel* 

We  have  already  noted  how  the  state  was  invading 
the  rights  of  the  church :  first,  taking  away  her  nomina- 
tion of  professors  of  theology,  then  her  funds.  In  1868 
a  group  of  free-thinkers  had  arisen,  led  by  the  young  and 
brilliant  professor,  Buisson.  He  delivered  an  address, 
December  5,  1868,  at  Neuchatel,  in  which  he  attacked  the 
use  of  the  Old  Testament  in  the  schools,  because  it  had 
errors,  favored  superstition  and  corrupted  the  youth. 
This  was  followed  by  other  conferences,  in  which  the 
Evangelical  doctrines  were  attacked.  Buisson  was  an- 
swered from  the  pedagogical  side  by  Fred  D'Rougenont, 
the  great  naturalist.  But  the  great  defender  of  the  church 
was  Professor  Frederick  Godet,  who  five  days  later,  after 
Buisson's  lecture  on  December  10,  replied,  defending  the 
Old  Testament.  Wherever  Buisson  went  delivering  his 
lectures,  Godet  followed  him,  making  replies.  In  Decem- 
ber, 1869,  a  rationalistic  organization  arranged  for  a 
course  of  lectures  mainly  by  foreigners.  The  liberals 
issued  a  statement  of  their  views  that  they  wanted  a 
church  without  priesthood  or  dogma. 

But  the  rationalists  found  that  the  people  did  not 
take  to  their  ideas,  so  they  determined  to  gain  their  pur- 
pose in  another  way.  They  now  aimed  at  a  revision  of 
the  constitution.  And  in  March,  1873,  the  new  law  was 
promulgated.  This  law  made  every  citizen  a  member  of 
the  church,  and  not,  as  before,  only  those  who  had  made 

*  See  "Histoire  de  la  fondation  de  l'eglise  evangelique 
Neuchatel."  by  Monvert   (1898). 


NEUCHATEL 


497 


a  public  profession  of  their  faith.  It  also  gave  entire 
liberty  to  pastors  to  preach  as  they  pleased,  thus  making 
the  church  confessionless,  and  it  required  a  re-election  of 
pastors  every  six  years.  The  nomination  of  professors 
of  theology  was  given  to  the  state.  Thus  the  state  took 
away  the  last  shred  of  autonomy  from  the  church.  The 
classis  protested.  Thus  the  state  gained  control  of 
the  church,  but  its  methods  only  reveal  the  tyranny  of 
heterodoxy  and  secularism.  The  old  church  of  Farel  was 
now  thrown  open  to  all  sorts  of  doctrine. 

It  was  this  usurpation  of  the  rights  of  the  church 
that  produced  the  Free  Church.  Out  of  forty-seven  pas- 
tors,  twenty-seven   left   the   church.     On    November  9, 

1873,  a  synod  of  the  nineteen  Free  Churches  was  held. 
The  number  arose  later  to  twenty-two  congregations. 
They  organized   twenty-six   parishes.     On   January    15, 

1874,  they  adopted  a  constitution,  which  was  later  adopted 
by  the  congregations.  This  new  church,  though  small, 
numbering  about  3,000  communicants,  has  been  very  ac- 
tive. In  ten  years  it  raised  $200,000.  Its  pastors  are  not 
paid  by  their  respective  parishes,  but  out  of  a  central 
fund,  to  which  the  parishes  contribute. 

Section  3 

profs.  frederick  godet*  and  a.  gretillat 

The  most  prominent  professor  of  theology  in  Neu- 
chatel  was  Frederick  Godet.  Born  October  25,  1812,  at 
Neuchatel,  he  studied  there  and  at  Breslau  and  Bonn. 
Ordained  1836,  he  received  (1838)  the  unusual  honor  of 
an  appointment  to  a  tutorship  to  the  Crown  Prince  of 
Germany,  Frederick,  during  which  time  (1838-44)  he 
lived  at  Berlin.     He  then  returned  to  Neuchatel  and  was 

*  An  excellent  work,  "Frederic  Godet,"  by  Philip  Godet, 
Neuchatel,  1913,  has  appeared  while  this  book  was  going  through 
the  press. 


498  THE  SWISS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

made  professor  of  theology  there  in  1850.  In  1864-65 
he  gained  fame  in  the  theological  world  by  the  publica- 
tion of  his  commentary  on  the  Gospel  of  John.  In  1866 
he  gave  up  his  pastorate,  so  as  to  give  his  entire  time 
to  his  professorship.  We  have  already  seen  how  he  re- 
plied to  Buisson's  attacks  on  the  Old  Testament.  When 
the  Free  Church  was  organized,  he  resigned  his  profes- 
sorship and  entered  the  Free  Church.  His  fame  gave  the 
new  theological  school  of  the  Free  Church  of  Neuchatel 
great  celebrity.  In  1887  he  retired  from  his  professor- 
ship and  spent  his  last  years  in  literary  activity.  He 
died  October  29,  1900. 

He  excelled  as  a  commentator  and  apologist.*  His 
commentary  on  John's  Gospel  is  one  of  the  best  ever 
written.  It  has  passed  through  many  editions  and  been 
translated  into  many  languages.  It  was  followed  by  a 
commentary  on  Luke  (1871),  Romans  (1879-80)  and  1 
Corinthians  (1886).  His  last  great  work  was  his  "In- 
terpretation of  the  New  Testament"  (1893-98).  He  ex- 
celled in  the  analysis  of  the  Apostles  psychologically  and 
in  his  faithfulness  of  the  reproduction  of  their  doctrine. 
He  held  to  the  orthodox  views  and  was  a  tower  of 
strength  to  the  Evangelicals.  But  he  was  also  liberal 
and  departed  from  the  old  traditional  views  in  his  doc- 
trine of  kenosis,  which,  however,  appears  to  make  the 
kenosis  more  a  figure  than  a  fact.  But  greater  than  his 
works  was  his  deep  spiritual  personality.  Frommel  calls 
him  a  spiritual  relative  of  John  the  Apostle,  who  in  his 
youth  was  a  Boanerges,  but  sat  the  feet  of  the  Master 
and  learned  his  life.  He  was  a  lovely  character,  remark- 
ably fitted  to  portray  the  apostle  of  love. 

Godet's  pupil,  and  later  his  colleague,  was  Prof. 
August  Gretillat,  who  became  professor  of  dogmatics. 
Born  March  16,  1837,  he  studied  at  Neuchatel  and  then 

*  He  wrote  against  Professor  Astie's  views. 


NEUCHATEL  499 

at  Halle,  Gottingen  and  Tubingen.  Probably  Beck,  at 
Tubingen,  influenced  him  more  than  one  else  of  his 
teachers.  Of  French  writers  he  was  especially  fond  of 
Vinet  and  Pascal.  He  was  elected  professor  of  dog- 
matics in  1870  and  resigned  this  position  to  go  out  with 
the  Free  Church.  Both  Godet  and  he  were  elected  pro- 
fessors in  the  new  theological  school  of  the  Free  Church. 
While  teaching  he  was  also  active  especially  in  the  evan- 
gelistic operations  of  his  church.  He  was  a  frequent 
writer  for  French  theological  journals.  He  died  Jan- 
uary 12,  1894.  He  published  his  "Dogmatics"  in  four 
volumes,  and  later  his  "Ethics."  In  the  former  he  op- 
posed the  new  theology  of  Astie.  In  the  main  he  was 
Evangelical,  but  with  Godet  he  held  to  the  doctrine  of 
Kenosis,  and  also  combated  the  crass  views  of  inspiration 
of  Gaussen.  At  the  death  of  Gretillat,  George  Godet,  a 
son  of  Frederick  Godet,  was  made  professor  of  dogmatics 
in  the  Free  Church  theological  school,  but  he  has  left  no 
writings. 


INDEX 


Andrea,  48,  58. 

Appenzell,  15,  74. 

Arnaud,   125-27. 

Association  Oath,  192-97,  317-20. 

Auberry,  52. 

Astie,  490. 

B 
Baggesen,  446.  453-54,  480. 
Barbeyrac,  192. 
Barde,  469,  470 

Basle,  57-68,  75,  146-52,  162,  249, 
330-43,  410-24. 
Mission    Society,    341-43, 
420-23. 

"       Alumneum,  423. 

"       Preacher's  School,  423. 
Baumler,  18. 
Beccaria,  107-09. 
Beck   (Basle),  23,  146. 

"       Prof.,  255. 
Bergier,  188,  192-94. 
Bern,  37-162,  258,  311-30,  444-56. 
Bernoulli,  252,  253,  266. 
Beza,  3,  45,  48-55. 
Bible  Translations,  28,  35,  154, 

280,  367,  476. 
Biederman,  435,  448,  450. 
Blaarer,  57. 

Blumhardt,  340,  342,  422. 
Bodmer,  210. 
Bodmer,  210. 
Boerhaave,  264. 
Bogerman,  20,  24. 


Bonnet,  301-03. 
Borromean  Alliance,  73. 
Bost,  383,  387,  462. 
Brandenburg,    Elector   of,    169, 

170. 
Brandmuller,   60. 
Breitinger,  18-31,  144. 

Canon,  208,  210,  212. 
Bridel,  478,  479. 
Brunner,  435. 
Bucanus,  55-56. 
Bucer,  38. 
Bula,  452. 
Buisson,  489,  496. 
Bullinger,  3,  8,  13,  15. 
Buxdorf,  150-52. 


Calvin,  43,  67. 
Calvinism,  Scholastic,  133-97. 
Catechisms,  39,  157,  180,  279. 
Cellerier,  354,  360,  369. 
Chappuis,  479,  487,  489. 
Cheneviere,  368,  374,  377,  393, 

461,  466,  468. 
Chouet,  161. 

Christianity   Society,  339. 
Cocceianism,  134,  159,  315. 
Collin,  12. 
Cougnard,  469,  470. 
Court,  196-97. 
Creed-subscription,  196-97. 
Crousaz,  192,   195. 
Curtat,  473,  474,  482. 
Cyril  Lucar,  147. 


INDEX 


50i 


D 

Dachs,  311. 

D'Alembart,  287. 

D'Annoni,  330-36. 

D'Aubigne,  Theodore,  Agrippa, 

116-21. 
Prof.    Merle,    360, 

365,  366,  463-64. 
De  Ruyter,  128-29. 
Descombes,  478. 
De  Wette,  341,  411-13,  481,  482. 
Diodati,  32. 
Dort,  Synod,  22,  34. 

"      Canons,  24,  35,  140. 
Drummond,  375. 
Dury,  148,  153. 
Duval,  195. 


Ebrard,  434-35. 

Ecolampadius,  57. 

Egli,  27. 

Empeytaz,   350,   356,   357,    359, 

363,  383,  462. 
Engadine,  29. 
Erastus,  64. 
Erzberger,  60. 
Erni,  185. 
Escalade,  76-79. 
Escher,  Matilda,  440. 
Euler,  213,  252-55. 
Evangelical  Society,  Bern,  448. 
Zurich,  439. 
"  "        Geneva,  461. 


Farel,  178,  494. 
Finsler,  435. 
Frommel,  470. 
Froschouer,  29. 
Fuessli,  207. 

Antistes,  435,  480. 


Galland,  452,  461. 
Gaussen,  382,  384,  461,  464,  466. 
Geneva,  3,  32,  76-79,  113-15,  159- 
63,  168,  173-78,  278,  303,  353- 

98,  400,  461-72. 
Gentilis,  45. 
Gernler,  149,  164,  165. 
Gessner,  426. 
Godet,  496,  498-99. 
Goethe,  218,  219,  223-24. 
Gouthier,  361,  375,  379. 
Gretillat,  498. 
Grisons,  84,  90-96. 
Grynseus,  40. 

Antistes,  49,  63,  64-66. 
Gualther,  7-12. 
Guder,  451,  455. 
Guers,  353,  354,  356,  360,  361, 

367,  375,  462. 
Guldin,  311,  312,  315,  316,  318, 

319. 
Gustavus  Adolphus,  81,  94. 

H 

Hadorn,  316. 
Hagenbach,  413-15. 
Haldane,  361,  362-70,  373,  376. 
Haller,  B.,  37. 
J.,  42. 

Albert  von,  155,  262-77. 
Heidegger,    139,    142,    144,    164- 

66. 
Heidelberg    Catechism,    156-57, 

246,  275,  315,  320,  345. 
Held,  439. 

Helvetic  Consensus,  133-97. 
Herzog,  487,  488. 
Hess,  236-43. 
Hospinian,  30. 
Hottinger,  J.  H.,  140-43. 
J.  J.  140. 


502 


INDEX 


Huber,  46-55. 
Hurliman-Landis,  428-30. 
Huguenots.  112-25. 
Hummel.  153,  164. 
Hundeshagen,  446-47. 
Hungarian  Refugees,  127. 
Hurter,  345,  457. 


1 


Immer,  449-51. 
Irminger,  137. 


James,    364. 
Jenatsch,  84-85,  95. 
Jezeler,  50. 

K 
Kesselring,  82-84. 
Kilchmeyer,  42. 
Klingler,   145,   185-87. 
Klopstock,  213,  238. 
Koch,  23. 

Koenig,  314-18,  321. 
Krudener,  349,  357.  363,  457. 


Langhans,  451. 

Lausanne,    55-56,     192-97,     See 

also  Vaud. 
Lavater,  Lewis,  12-14,  19. 

J.  C,  207-36,  240,  242. 
Lang,  437. 
Lange,  434,  436. 
Leeman,   16-17. 
Leo  Juda,  57,  70. 
Liturgy,  175,   181,  281. 
Llandaff,  23-24. 
Locarno,  107-09. 
Luthardt,  154. 
Lutheranism,    3,    37-70,    51-63, 

69-70. 
Lutz,  S.,  320-29. 
"      J.  L.  S.,  444. 


M 
Malan,  369,  371-74,  378-79,  383, 

385,  396. 
Marbach,  58,  62. 
Martin,  470. 
Maurer,  347. 
Megander,  37-39. 
Mestrezat,   161. 
Meyer,  23,  146. 

Antistes,  346. 
Mission  Romande,  491-93. 
Monnard,  479,  481,  483. 
Montbeliard,  47. 
Morns.  160. 

Moulinie,  a54-55,  363-64,  369. 
Muller,  J.,  166. 

"        J.  J.,  185. 
J.  G..  346. 
Musculus,  43. 
Music,  13,  28,  59.  394. 
Muslin,  46-55. 

D.,  226. 
Myconius,  57. 

N 
Nac.eli,  429. 
Naville,  421-22. 
Neff,  389,  396-400. 
Neuchatel,  102-04.  167,  178-183, 

494-99. 
Nicodemites,   109-11. 
Nuschler,  188. 

O 
Oettli,  453. 
Orelli,  416,  417. 
Oschwald,  346. 
Osterwald.  170,  178-83. 
Ott,  26,  154. 
Ott   (Schaffhausen),  164. 

P 

Pestalozzi,  243-48. 


INDEX 


503 


Peter  Martyr,  15,  67. 

Pictet,  170-78,  282. 

Pietism,  305-400. 

Piscator,  154. 

Polanus,  05-67. 

Polier,  192,  195. 

Poschiavo,   89. 

Premillenarianism,  315. 

Presbyterian  Church   of  United 

States,  206,  284. 
Prussia,    103-04.    174,    182.   244, 

285,  300,  494-95. 
Psalms.  179. 
Pyt,  360,  367,  375,  379-80. 

R 

Rabaut,  124. 

Rahn-Escher,  428,  430,  432. 

Ramus,  68. 

Rationalism,  195-304. 

Rieu,  362. 

Riggenbach,  416. 

Romang,  444,  447. 

Rosseau.  243,  247,  292-301. 

Ritter,  37,  38,  42. 

Rohan,  92-97. 

Ruchat,  192. 

Rudolph,   190,  312,  314-15,  317, 

324. 
Ruegg,  439. 
Rutimeyer,   23. 


Sarpi,  33. 

Saumur-Calvinism,  135,  165. 
Saurin,  167. 
Schaffhausen.    69,    162,    344-52, 

456-59. 
Scherer,  466. 
Schrenck,  454,  456. 
Schneckenberger,  445,  447. 
Schulthess,  424,  426. 
Schulthess-Rechberg,  232,  439. 


Schweizer.  J.  C,  144. 
J.  H.,  167. 
Alexander.  438. 
Meta,  441-42. 
Secretan,  479,  487,  491. 
Simler,  11. 
Spittler.  340,  342. 
Spliess,  347,  350-52. 
St.  Chrischona,  423. 
St.  Gall,  100-01. 
Stahelin,  E.,  417,  419. 
R.,  417,  420. 

Stapfer,  258-62. 

Steiger,  460. 

Steinkopf,  340. 

Strauss,  427-30. 

Stucki,  17,  50. 

Stumpf,  14-15. 

Sulzer,  40,  57-63. 

Szegedin,  67 


Thomas,  470. 
Thurgau,  82. 
Toggenburg,  28,  100. 
Tronchin,  161,  173,  179. 
Turretin,  B.,  32. 

J.  A.,  170,  173-76,  278. 

F.,  159,  161,  173. 

U 

Uj.mer,  69. 

Ulrich,  Antistes  J.  J.,  138,  161. 

Rev.  J.  J.,  187. 

Antistes  J.  R.,  206.221. 

Rev.  J.  C,  208,  210. 

V 

Valais,  79. 
Valtellina.  84 -90. 
Vaud,  55,  473-93,  See  also  Lau- 
sanne. 


5<M 


INDEX 


Vernet,  278,  282-84,  285. 

Vilmergen,  99-102. 

Vinet,  474-75,  477,  480-86. 

Vogelin,  440-41. 

Voltaire,    268,    277-78,    281-92, 

294,  300. 
Von  Rodt,  316,  317,  323,  456. 
Von  Wattenwyl,  317,  320,  453, 

454. 
Vulliemin  489. 

W 

Waldenses,  125-27. 
Waser,  6. 

Werdmuller,  99,  138-39. 
Werenfels,  171,  256. 
Wettstein,  J.  R.,  97-98. 

Prof.  J.  R.,  164,  166, 
249. 

Prof.  J.  J.,  249-52. 
Wirz,  201. 


Woerner,  439. 
Wolleb,  146-47,  256. 
Wotton,  33. 
Wyss,  444,  447. 


Young  Men's   Christian   As- 
sociation, 337-39. 


Zeller,  Antistes,  187. 

E.,  446-49. 
Ziegler,  331,  344. 
Zimmerman,  180,  202. 
Zink,  139. 
Zurich,  7-31,   137-45,    162,    185- 

88,  201-48,  426-43. 
Zwinger,  147-48. 
Zwingli,  3,  15. 
Zyro,  446. 


